It takes a little time getting used to looking at government financials. But ultimately it’s all dollars and cents. The sheer size of this budget is daunting and trying to keep things straight can be tough. A couple things caught my interest, which may be telling about how new to government operations I am.
1. The city issues bonds every year. I have no clue if this is common among municipal governments or not. But from a private enterprise point of view it seems odd. Bonds are long-term debt used to fund long-term projects. It seems that much if not all of the proceeds are matched to capital improvement projects, which is good, but it just seems excessive. I’m sure there are lots of capital improvement projects to be done, so maybe its just my naiveté that makes me feel that way.
2. The city divides its activities into two categories, governmental activities and business type activities. The business type activities consist of water, sewer, Midway, O’Hare, and the Skyway. Governmental activities are everything else (general government, public safety, streets and sanitation, transportation, health, cultural and recreation). I’m not certain if the CTA is counted in transportation. If it is, it seems like it should be transferred to the business activities side.
3. The business activities break even (probably due to the fact that their services can be charged back to users) and the governmental activities all show deficits. When all is said and done, the city lost $365MM based on GAAP or $580MM based on fund accounting (I think it’s similar to cash based) in 2006.
4. By far the largest expenditures on an ongoing basis are General Government and Public Safety spending, $2,088MM and $2,300MM, respectively. Although on a budgetary basis general government and public safety were only responsible for $861MM and $1,756MM, I wonder what the difference is. I’m curious if Public Safety spending is only police and fire, and if not what else is in there. And I’m just plain curious as to what is in general government spending.
5. For whatever reason, I noticed in the notes the Modern Schools Across Chicago program (MSAC). It smacked of one those inconsistent Bush Administration bills, the Clear Skies Initiative but it really means more pollution. I have no proof that that’s what it is but I noticed it. I’ll be looking more into the MSAC.
