Not wanting to risk a “no” vote on his latest budget proposal to the Chicago City Council, Mayor Brandon Johnson pushed another round of budget talks to Monday, Dec. 16.
With the Dec. 31 budget agreement deadline closing fast, Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) believes, as of Friday’s meeting cancellation, that the mayor’s Monday proposal will not have a property tax increase.
“This budget-making process has really pushed the envelope on right-sizing the city government and I’m proud to be a part of a coalition of 14 other alders that fought very, very hard against property tax increase,” said Quinn.
He emphasized that support for the mayor’s budget hinges on funding for a new police district on the city’s Southwest Side.
Identifying the vacant Army National Guard Midway Armory located at 5400 W. 63rd St., Southwest Side alders have been pushing for a new police district since 13th and 23rd ward residents approved it in a binding referendum on March 19.
The Southwest News Herald previously reported in October 2024 that there are 250,000 residents and 259 police officers in the city’s 8th Police District, the worst officer per capita ratio in the City of Chicago.
“There is still time left but that’s where I’m at right now,” he said.
Mayor Johnson has proposed a range of revenue generating ideas including increased taxes on cloud lease transaction services and paper and plastic single-use bags streaming services as well as expanding the number of city speeding cameras and increasing taxes on parking and rideshares, according to Illinois Policy.
An Oct. 30 statement, reported by the Southwest News Herald, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce called on the administration’s focus to be on spending cuts citing ending federal COVID-19 funding, an upcoming transit shortfall, Chicago Public School budget deficits and unresolved pension obligations. Without addressing these issues, the chamber warned, Chicago’s competitiveness for national business and job growth would suffer.
The result of Monday’s budget meeting is uncertain.
“I don’t know what the final product is going to look like come Monday,” said Quinn. “It’s evident he did not have the votes today. I think those nickel and dime increases are equally unpopular as a property tax increase.”
While Quinn acknowledged that commenting may be premature, he believes that the current path the mayor is on to raise revenue is not a good fit for future budgets.
“I think the City of Chicago will be in the same place again next year because we haven’t right-sized the structure of the government,” he said.
Quinn and 14 other aldermen advocating for “right-sizing” government argue for a more detailed audit of the mayor’s proposal including the reevaluating mid-management structures.
“A perfect example is this past Wednesday we had our budget committee meeting and inside some proposals, the mayor was giving committee chairs, like the Committee for Housing was getting an extra $50,000 for a staff person,” said Quinn. “The Committee on Police and Fire was getting an extra $30,000. We uncovered that the City Treasurer was getting security paid out of the water fund. All of these added expenses are what’s contributing to our gap in our budget.”
He and two other aldermen found the additional expenses quickly and easily and questioned how much more bloat is in the budget.
Quinn said these findings suggest deeper budget inefficiencies.
“I’m saying a full audit of the spending should occur in an honest attempt to right-size the government,” he said. “Looking at middle management in particular and understanding what is the ratio between manager and employee? I believe that there is a lot of room to right-size in that particular area across the board.”
Whether Monday’s meeting will conclude with a vote is unclear.
“I don’t know and I say that honestly,” Quinn said. “The margins to secure are so tight, the mayor may have to break the tie; it may be 25 to 25 vote,” he said.