Finance
Finance & Budget Committee chair Reiches wants city's fiscal level sound – Evanston RoundTable
Shari Reiches is a leader and a go-getter. You may be familiar with her name from earlier RoundTable articles about her work on the city’s Finance & Budget Committee where she is the group’s chair. The committee meets the second Tuesday of every month (except in August) and there is always an agenda provided ahead online. The next meeting will take place at 5 p.m., Feb. 11.
Business founder, author, volunteer
Twenty years ago Reiches co-founded the business, Rappaport Reiches Capital Management. Today the firm employees a dozen people and manages more than a billion dollars in investments for individuals, families and nonprofit organizations.
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Shari Greco Reiches Credit: Jessica KaplanShe enjoys public speaking; one of her favorite topics is financial planning and values. In fact, Reiches wrote a book, Maximize Your Return on Life — Invest Your Time and Money in What You Value Most, that explains her philosophy and vision of investing. Radio programs, television shows, newspapers, magazines and podcasts seek out her point of view when it comes to money matters. She also volunteers with many organizations important to her.
Reiches was previously vice chair and board member of the Illinois State Board of Investments (ISBI), a $23 billion pension system. Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed her on Jan. 30, 2015 and she served four years.
Evanston mayor Daniel Biss knew Reiches from her work with ISBI when he was a member of the Illinois Senate. He nominated her to be one of the Finance & Budget Committee’s three lay leaders. The other two lay leaders are David Livingston, an executive in business development and treasury at ITW, a global manufacturing company, and Leslie McMillan, a private wealth manager. Five council members are also on the committee.
Role of Finance & Budget Committee
The committee’s purview is related to bills, budgets, financial reporting and management, investments, rating agencies, Evanston Police Department and Evanston Fire Department pension boards; and the funding of capital improvements and other long-term obligations.
Under Reiches’ leadership, the committee’s goals for the 2024-2025 year include:
- Identify additional revenue sources
- Review expenses
- Review capital improvement plan
- Establish long-term debt plan
- Review status of pensions
- Utilize benchmarking data
“The Finance & Budget Committee does not have decision authority,” she said. “All decisions are made by the City Council. We give advice and guidance to the City Council. My primary objective for the Finance & Budget Committee is to set policies that will continue beyond our terms.”
Pension policy
Reiches also touched on her commitment to creating policy.
“I want to come up with policies,” she said. “So we’ve already come up with two big policies. The first one was a pension policy.”
“Illinois law requires pension funds to have assets that cover 90% of estimated pension liabilities by 2045,” she said. “Our finance committee recommended, and the city council approved, a proposal to fund pensions so their assets cover 100% of pension liabilities by 2040. As a result of this new policy, the City of Evanston in 2024 increased its funding of our fire and police pensions by approximately $10 million over 2020.”
“A pension is a liability,” she said. “You can’t just say ‘I’m not going to fund the pension.’ We could have kept going at the 90% rate, but then there would be a huge tax to pay in the future,” she said.
“We are proud of this policy because it is sound fiscal policy. It was our first big, big win,” Reiches said.
Going forward, the committee plans to meet at least annually with the presidents of the Evanston police and fire pension boards to review the respective pension plans’ performances as well as updated actuarial reports.
Non-budgeted expenses policy
Sometimes unplanned opportunities arise. One example: last year the city council approved the purchase of Little Beans Café, 430 Asbury Ave., at a cost of $2.6 million. It will become the city’s dedicated site for accessible recreation programs.
This purchase was not on anyone’s radar. The idea for the purchase also bypassed any review by the Budget & Finance Committee.
Reiches said, “Our second big new policy is a non-budgeted expenditure policy. Any expenditure over $500,000 that was not budgeted comes to our committee for discussion before going to the council. The alders have big agendas and a lot on their plates. We have the time to review possible non-budgeted expenditures in more detail.”
The debt level
Another topic that has consumed a lot of discussion time is the city’s debt level. Debt allows the city to purchase goods and services that are beyond the scope of the annual budget, similar to a mortgage for a house or a loan for a car.
As the city contemplates taking on additional debt, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not an even switch due to inflation. Between what the city needs and the rate of inflation, the new debt could exceed the amount of the debt rolling off. Reiches wrote in an email that, “The committee strongly feels we need to understand the additional debt the city is taking and the future expenses related to the debt in context of the overall budget.”
In Reiches’ view, this is the main reason for creating a debt management plan.
A policy to plan and manage Evanston’s debt
At the November 2024 Finance & Budget Committee meeting, the committee directed staff to include an item on the January 2025 agenda to discuss developing a debt management plan. To begin this discussion, the committee reviewed baseline debt data for the City of Evanston and peer communities.
For this review, the peer communities include Skokie, Oak Park, Park Ridge, Palatine, Bloomington, Arlington Heights and Des Plaines.
Along with its agenda for the Jan. 14 meeting, the committee provided a debt analysis. The analysis shows the amount of General Obligation (GO) Bond principal to be retired by category for all outstanding issuances from 2025 through 2044. (Refer to chart on pages 9-10.) The amount for 2025 is $13.57 million.
The chart below shows the city’s property tax levy and its various components since 2013.
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Chart of the City’s property tax levy and its various components since FY 2013 Credit: Finance and Budget Committee, Jan. 14, 2025 Agenda, p. 10 PDF
This note from the city document succinctly states the situation: “As shown, from FY 2013 to FY 2025, the Debt Service Levy increased by 13%, the General Fund levy by 14%, and the Public Safety Pension levy by 41%. During this time, the CPI [Consumer Price Index] has gone up 35%, with increases for construction materials outpacing CPI. Given that CPI has far exceeded increases to the levy and that dedicated revenues have not been identified for the CIP [capital improvement projects], the City will be able to complete far less capital work in FY 2025 than in FY 2013 despite growing capital needs.”
Selecting a debt level
Currently the City Council selects the projects to be funded and adds the total amount for estimated costs. The total estimated cost determines the debt level.
Reiches and the committee recommend an alternative process: determine the amount of debt (still to be determined) the city can afford. Decide which projects get funded based on that number. Determining the debt level also provides a backstop for overspending.
“Our biggest expenses are capital improvements, plus we have deferred maintenance with aging facilities and parks,” Reiches said. “We have underground water pipes that are more than 100 years old that need to be replaced and the alleys that need paving.”
Budget management
The committee is also trying to limit projects that go over budget. The city’s finance staff alerts the committee of any expenses that increase 10% or more over budget. The committee is discussing ways to reduce some expenses in 2025.
Last year the city’s finance team was recognized by City Manager Luke Stowe after the city received an award from the Government Finance Officers Association. Evanston received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2024 budget, with particular acknowledgment for performance measures.
Reiches praised the committee’s working relationship with the City Council and described them as “very supportive.”
The Finance & Budget Committee is a new committee for Evanston. “We’re here for strategy and the big picture. We’re not here to micromanage the staff or the council,” Reiches said. “The Budget & Finance Committee provides the Alderman with detailed information so that they can make prudent decisions. The overall decision are with the Alderman.”
Working toward the future
“When I took over as Chair of the Finance & Budget Committee, I quoted my dad in my initial comments. He taught me, ‘We can have anything we want, but we can’t have everything we want.’”
She added, “Whoever’s going to be here in 2040 will be so happy because the pension will be funded and the deferred maintenance will be done, but it will take a while.”
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Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger has tapped Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, to serve as her Secretary of Finance.
Sickles has been in the House of Delegates for 22 years and is the second-highest-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
“As the Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Delegate Sickles has years of experience working with both Democrats and Republicans to pass commonsense budgets that have offered tax relief for families and helped Virginia’s economy grow,” Spanberger said in a statement Tuesday.
Sickles has been a House budget negotiator since 2018.
“We need to make sure every tax dollar is employed to its greatest effect for hard-working Virginians to keep tuition low, to build more affordable housing, to ensure teachers are properly rewarded for their work, and to make quality healthcare available and affordable for everyone,” Sickles said in a statement. “The Finance Secretariat must be a team player in helping Virginia’s government to perform to its greatest potential.”
Sickles is the third member of the House that Spanberger has selected to serve in her administration. Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William, was tapped to serve as the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, was named Secretary of Historic and Natural Resources.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Stories posted on Virginiascope.com are available for publications to republish in their entirety for free.
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SEOUL, Dec 23 (Reuters) – South Korea’s central bank needs to remain wary of financial stability risks, such as heightened volatility in the won currency and upward pressure on house prices, a board member said on Tuesday.
“Volatility is increasing in financial and foreign exchange markets with sharp fluctuations in stock prices and comparative weakness in the won,” said Chang Yong-sung, a member of the Bank of Korea’s seven-seat monetary policy board.
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The won hit on Tuesday its weakest level since early April at 1,483.5 per dollar. It has fallen more than 8% in the second half of 2025.
Chang also warned of high credit risks for some vulnerable sectors and continuously rising house prices in his comments released with the central bank’s semiannual financial stability report.
In the report, the BOK said it would monitor risk factors within the financial system and proactively seek market stabilising measures if needed, though it noted most indicators of foreign exchange conditions remained stable.
Monetary policy would continue to be coordinated with macroprudential policies, it added.
The BOK’s next monetary policy meeting is in January.
Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Jamie Freed
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
“I am running because the system needs to be fixed and I have the skills and mindset to do it…”
by MIKE BURKHOLD
***
Earlier this month, at the invitation of Virginia Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings, I spent a full day in Richmond meeting with leaders from across that state’s financial infrastructure. These were not ceremonial handshakes. These were working meetings — substantive, focused and highly instructive.
I met with teams overseeing budgeting, taxation, regulatory oversight, accounting and administration. What I found was a modern, integrated and disciplined approach to managing public money. And it made me even more certain of one thing: South Carolina is ready for change.
***
TEAMWORK AND TALENT MATTER
What stood out most in Virginia was the cohesion. From top to bottom, everyone I met shared the same mission — being responsible stewards of the taxpayers’ money. No silos. No blame games. Just a united focus on efficiency, transparency and performance.
That mindset doesn’t happen by accident. It is baked into the culture. The Secretary of Finance meets quarterly with department heads to review budgets, resolve audit findings and keep teams on track. There is accountability at every level. And it works.
That is what I want to bring to South Carolina. As Comptroller General, my job is to revitalize and modernize a critical finance function and to do it in close partnership with the legislature, the governor and the treasurer. I want to build an office that operates with precision, earns trust and gives lawmakers the clarity they need to govern wisely.
***
THIS IS BIGGER THAN ONE SEAT
I am not running for this office because I want a long political career. I am running because the system needs to be fixed and I have the skills and mindset to do it.
If part of that fix means rethinking whether this seat should remain an elected position then I welcome that conversation. In other states like Florida, voters elect a Chief Financial Officer with broad oversight. In Virginia, the Secretary of Finance is appointed by the governor and oversees all fiscal functions. Either model can work – but both reflect a commitment to modern coordinated financial management.
What matters most is that we have a structure that delivers results and earns the public’s trust. That structure needs to be part of a bigger conversation focused on delivering value to citizens – not maintaining fiefdoms or political turf.
***
RELATED | S.C. ‘REPUBLICANS’ REBUFF TRUMP ON REDISTRICTING
***
PUBLIC SERVICE STARTS WITH LEADERSHIP
One of the most inspiring parts of my trip was seeing the caliber of leaders who had left high-paying private sector roles to serve the people of Virginia. They brought with them a culture of excellence and a belief that good government is possible when the right people step forward.
We have that kind of talent in South Carolina. We just need to encourage more of it. I am stepping up because I believe in servant leadership. I see a seat that has not been led this way in a long time and there is a lot to fix. Not just the systems and operations but also the teamwork and coordination across agencies.
My goal is not what is best for Mike. It is what is best for South Carolina. I want to rebuild the Comptroller General’s office into a trusted partner, a respected institution and a model for modern financial leadership. Then I want to help figure out what structure will best serve the next generation.
***
A MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY
The recent $3.5 billion error exposed just how outdated and fragile our current systems are. But we are not starting from scratch. We are starting from a place of strength. We have smart people, a strong economy and the will to do better.
Now we need to modernize our expectations. We need to align talent. We need to redesign the systems that manage $40 billion of taxpayer money. And we need leadership that sees the big picture, listens well and gets the details right.
South Carolina’s future is full of promise. But to get there, we need to treat government finance with the same rigor, discipline and urgency as any top-performing business.
That is why I am running. Not to keep a seat – but to serve the mission.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Mike Burkhold is a Republican candidate for comptroller general of South Carolina.
***
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