Chicago’s own watchdog just delivered a stinging verdict on the City Council’s in-house budget brain trust, saying the City Council Office of Financial Analysis (COFA) has repeatedly failed to give aldermen the kind of independent, on-time financial analysis they need when it actually counts.
In an audit released April 21, 2026, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that COFA often produced reports too late or too thin to influence budget votes, and that it has not kept most reports or workpapers created before 2021. OIG urged COFA to secure better access to city data and to run a staffing analysis so it can meet the Municipal Code’s reporting requirements and actually support the Council during high-pressure budget showdowns.
What the audit found
According to a report by the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General, OIG concluded that COFA "has not consistently provided independent financial analysis" to assist City Council and that, in many cases, the timing or content of its reports offered only limited help for budget decisions.
The audit says COFA failed to reliably produce the periodic and ad hoc reports required by the Municipal Code of Chicago and, in some instances, published analyses after Council votes had already taken place. That is the municipal equivalent of showing up to the game after the final buzzer.
OIG also flagged possible noncompliance with the Illinois Local Records Act, finding that COFA had not retained the bulk of its reports and workpapers from before 2021. The watchdog recommended that COFA and the Office of Budget and Management work together to secure timely access to essential financial data so analysts are not flying blind.
COFA's response
COFA told auditors it has been trying to turn the ship around since 2025, focusing on many of the same problems the report lays out, including the quality and timeliness of its work. The office said it has gained direct access to some city data systems, added staff, and is working to meet Municipal Code requirements, as reported by Suburban Chicagoland.
In its formal response, included in the audit materials, COFA said it has identified targeted improvements for 2026 but acknowledged it still has a way to go. City leaders will now have to decide whether to back those plans with steady funding and the technical access required to make them real.
Why this matters
The audit lands in the middle of a bruising budget season and reinforces long-running complaints that the City Council lacks the in-house muscle to thoroughly vet the mayor’s proposals. The Civic Federation has argued that COFA’s lean budget and small staff leave aldermen heavily dependent on the mayor’s Office of Budget and Management and has called for expanding COFA and putting a floor under its funding.
That limited capacity, the report notes, helped push alderpeople during the FY2026 process to lean on outside consultants and civic groups to craft credible alternative budget ideas instead of relying primarily on their own analyst office.
OIG’s recommendations and next steps
OIG recommended that COFA conduct a staffing analysis, set up procedures to track aldermanic requests, and proactively flag legislation that requires financial analysis. It also urged COFA to coordinate with the Office of Budget and Management and other departments to secure unhindered access to the data its analysts need.
The audit further directed COFA to revisit its records-retention practices and to notify the Local Records Commission about missing pre-2021 materials. The goal is to turn COFA into a more effective, independent check on city spending and to give City Council the tools it needs to function as a co-equal branch of government, according to the report from the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General.
For now, the audit hands aldermen a surprisingly simple to-do list: more staff, stronger data access, and cleaner records. Whether City Council chooses to fund those fixes, and whether COFA gets the teeth to actually use them, will help determine how Chicago fights its next big budget battle.
