Wednesday, October 12, 2011

2012 City of Chicago Budget Released Today

2012 budget is out.  A number of cuts and new fees.  What do you think?

Budget highlights:
  • 1400 police officer vacancies will be eliminated.  100 police cadets will be hired in 2012.
  • Three Chicago Police District Buildings to close and consolidation of Chicago Police & Chicago Fire Department Headquarters
  • Water bills to double over four years.  Not For Profits to pay for water, too.
  • 500 city workers to be laid off
  • Chicago Public Libraries to decrease hours ~ 8 hours/week.
  • Hotel taxes and parking garage fees to go up.
  • City Sticker fee for SUVs to go from $75.00 to $135.
  • 900 traffic lights retrofitted with LED bulbs.
  • Garbage collection to move to a "grid system"
  • 30 million dollar TIF surplus to go to CPS for School renovations

Aldermen Mixed on Budget
As they had done so many times for Mayor Richard M. Daley, aldermen stood and applauded at the end of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first budget speech since he was elected to succeed Daley.
And the longest-serving City Council member, Ald. Edward Burke (14th Ward) predicted that a “clear majority” of aldermen would approve Emanuel’s 2012 budget proposal with little change, despite the raft of initiatives that were politically unpalatable in better economic times.
“We’re at a point now where the city’s finances are in such serious condition that the city government simply can’t do business the way it’s done business over the years,” said Burke, who endorsed an Emanuel rival in the February mayoral election but since has made peace with the new mayor.
Although the balanced budget plan relies on a long list of fee increases that would impact the pocketbooks of Chicagoans, Burke noted that the revenue-generating moves include a hotel tax hike and a surcharge for parking downtown.
“They’re not taxes that affect the homeowners,” he said. “They’re basically increases that affect commuters, and it’s an attempt, I believe, to spreading the responsibility of funding this government beyond the city limits.”
Ald. Patrick O’Connor (40th), who is Emanuel’s unofficial council floor leader, said the new mayor, unlike Daley, does not budget on the assumption the economy will improve. “It’s more apparent that we don’t have the luxury of not making some of these decisions at this point,” O’Connor said.
Aldermen will hold public hearings beginning in a week, grilling each of Emanuel’s Cabinet members before voting in December on the city’s taxing and spending plans for next year. For most of Daley’s tenure, he enjoyed lopsided and often unanimous votes in favor of his budget plans. Council members rarely sought to even amend the budget.
But opposition to some parts of the new administration’s 2012 proposal surfaced immediately.
City Clerk Susana Mendoza, whose office issues city stickers, said she was “adamantly opposed” to Emanuel’s plan to increase city sticker fees for sport-utility vehicle and truck owners. Mendoza said she will lobby aldermen to kill the fee hike, to $135 from $120, because she said it would affect “soccer moms.”
Mendoza also criticized the mayor’s process for rolling out the idea. “I just found out about this increase today, which probably isn’t the best approach to get a job done,” she said.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the downtown area, said he opposed Emanuel’s proposed increase in the city’s hotel tax. City officials said the total hotel tax would rise to 16.4 percent from 15.4 percent now, or $1.78 added to the average nightly rate for a room.
“None of these revenue options are attractive to anyone,” said Reilly, who is vice chairman of the council’s Budget Committee, which runs the budget hearings. “We want to make sure we avoid any unintended economic consequences by raising these taxes.”
Emanuel’s plan to close three police stations received a cool response from aldermen whose wards would be affected.
Ald. Will Burns (4th) said he was concerned the closing of the Prairie police station would lead to more crime in his ward.
“I’m not defending the building,” Burns said. “What I’m defending are officers who know that community, who have relationships with the community.”
Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) said he did not buy Emanuel’s claim that closing police stations would allow the police department to add more officers to the streets.
“To me, that is disingenuous,” Maldonado said. “You might have more police officers coming out of that district, but you’re going to have a much larger geography to serve.”
Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno (1st) said he believed the closure of a station in his ward was tantamount to punishment for successful efforts to keep crime down in the area on the city’s near Northwest Side.
“We’ve had a neighborhood that has had great success in the last 15 years or so and they should not be punished for that success,” he said.
But Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said he supports Emanuel’s plan to close police stations. He said a station covering his ward would see more officers as a result of the closings.
“I’m not as married to buildings as I am to services,” Burnett said.
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, both Emanuel appointees, attended the budget speech. Brizard lauded the mayor’s plan to funnel $30 million in funds from Chicago’s tax-increment financing districts to the schools. Brizard said he would use the money for improving school facilities
“It’s a great beginning,” Brizard said. “It’s a welcome addition to our war chest.”
The Chicago Teachers Union and some aldermen have called on the city to provide even more TIF dollars for schools than Emanuel proposed.

25 comments:

  1. public safety has never been more of an issue for this city - wildings, gang problems, murders, shootings, robberies, etc and now the mayor cuts the police force by 10%. Hiring 100 new cadets will not begin to cover the 500 expected retirements for 2012.

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  2. Good news - except for the water increase. Charge the burbs more who rely on Lake Michigan water but are land locked

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  3. I noticed there wasn't a financial transaction tax levied on the ultra rich who use this city and pay nothing in return.

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  4. I hope these aldermen in the 16th District fight for more police positions. 100 won't do it. Although, you would think if the 100 new officers were distributed to the precincts properly, the 16th would receive 4 new officers (25 districts/100 new officers), probably won't happen. And about 20 to 25 officers are due to retire from the 16th this year.

    The math doesn't work aldermen. For God's sake, fight for the people who voted you in.

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  5. Lets cut the number of aldermen to 25 instead of 50 before we cut library hours and police officer positions.

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  6. Lets face it Daley was such a corrupt crook, any budget coming from anyone but Daley would look good.

    But, we need to keep Rahm and the aldermen in check with what we as taxpayers perceive to be important.

    Upgrading infastructure and public safety are important for most people who pay taxes.

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  7. So why has Rahm excluded a Securities Transaction Tax on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a way to raise sorely needed revenue? The same CME that earns billions of dollars in profit, while accepting 15 million $$$ in TIF funds to remodel their bathroom?

    The following is the amount of bribery cash Rahm has accepted from Wall St. interests; according to Open Secrets.org, 2002 -2010.

    Madison Dearborn Partners - $100,200
    Un ited Bank of Scotland - $89,150
    Goldman Sachs - $82,650
    Dresdner, Kleinwort, and Wasserstein - $73,250

    Total lifetime, from Securities and Investment firms - $1,666,392
    Lawyers/Law Firms - $752,718
    Real Estate firms - $359,275
    Commercial Banks - $269,000

    Did I say it was bribery cash? So sorry. Those were "campaign contributions", which of course would not sway Rahms' decision making.

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  8. "It's a welcome addition to our war chest." That's what the school budget is Brizard - a 'war chest."?

    What a moron.

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  9. Never mind all this budget talk. Mayor NAFTAPUNK is celebrating Congress' passage of 3 - count em - 3 Free Trade agreements in one day.

    Why he hasn't been this happy since he cussed out a nun.

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  10. Finally, churches and not for profits have to pay for water. About time.

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  11. The cop positions - to many to let go at once. Not wise... perhaps half of the 1400 this year.

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  12. Can we charge that union-busting hospital on Talcott triple for their water use the last 50 years?

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  13. Hey Rahm, I guess if you can't dazzle them with diamonds them baffle them with bull sh- -.

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  14. Forensic budget audit every year! Where has the money for the 1400 police vacancies been going for the last few years?

    We need accountability!!!

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  15. This just in...The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has requested an addition 5 million dollars in TIF cash towards the installation of gold plated sink faucets in their new bathroom.

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  16. Just heard the mayor's definition of SUV on the radio - pretty much anything over 4000 pounds, means all minvans, sports utilities, etc. Will impact the 41st ward.

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  17. We endure a property tax, a 50% increase in our water bills, new fees for city stickers, 1000+ reduction of police staff and the mayor gives his administration team large salary increases (10 to 40%)?

    This looks sleezy and is no example of leadership by example.

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  18. FYI: Next steps are for the aldermen to hold budget hearings with each of the city departments. The 2012 final city budget will be voted on, by the city council, in early December.

    So, whoever keeps sending comments about how the alderman in the 41st ward voted on the budget....no need to continue. We won't know how the alderman will vote until December.

    Meanwhile, if you feel strongly about a new fee, a specific budget cut, etc... you can call the alderman's office and/or send an email.

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  19. In Rahms' corporate world, transaction fees apply to citizen motorists, citizen homeowners etc - Not to outsiders who are securities traders.

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  20. Maybe next Rahm will put a tax on breathing and say the money will go to fight air pollution

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  21. Why didn't Rahm mention that he was not only cutting public library hours but also staff and have people finally learn about it in the Chicago Sun-Times article? How are the libraries going to operate with shortened hours and less staff? Why are the big city officials getting raises and the libraries that offer so much to the residents of Chicago getting cut?

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  22. Our alderman has come out in full support of the budget proposal - God help us all.

    Meanwhile, the Arena and Sposato are questioning some of the increases and are speaking out about them and some of the cuts to emergency services and the libraries. They are representing their wards well, this O'Connor is a friggin nightmare.

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  23. The water dept increase makes sense. The cuts to libraries and OEM are insane.

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  24. I want more cops in the 16th and leave the libraries alone.

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  25. From today's tribune:

    Other aldermen expressed reservations.

    "We ask the average family to pay an extra $60 a year for a vehicle that this year was $75," said Ald. John Arena, 45th. "This budget looks at spreading the pain around, but we're not doing that in this case."

    Mendoza came to the budget hearing armed with the number of registered vehicles that would be affected by Emanuel's proposal in each ward.

    Told 5,995 vehicles in her Northwest Side ward would get hit with the higher rate, Ald. Mary O'Connor, 41st, said, "Oh, boy, that's 6,000 votes."

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