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* Mayor Rahm Emanuel began rolling out his budget yesterday. Best line of the day…
“If you think you’re gonna balance a budget with a $637 million deficit that’s about 20 percent out of whack and you’re … gonna do it without controversy, call me. I’m really interested in the idea,” Emanuel said facetiously.
Emanuel made that comment at a press conference to announce that Accenture Financial Services is adding 500 new Chicago jobs. Those new jobs may help take a bit of the sting out of all the bad news.
* And, man, there’s plenty of bad news…
If Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets his way and closes three police districts, the people who live in those communities will be short-changed, Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields said Tuesday night.
Under the mayor’s budget proposal, first reported Tuesday afternoon by the Chicago Sun-Times, three of the oldest stations — Belmont, Wood and Prairie — would be closed and its personnel consolidated into adjacent buildings.
“There’s going to be longer response time on 911 calls. There’s going to be less police officers in those neighborhoods, and it’s going to happen over time,” said Shields.
Some neighbors who live in the affected 13th District also challenge the plan.
“It’s an absolutely terrible idea,” said one resident.
* Explaining this won’t be easy, but they’re trying…
Sources said the stations were chosen because of their relatively low crime statistics and the ability of nearby stations with similarly low numbers to absorb the operations.
Chicago has 25 police districts, each with its own station. O.W. Wilson, the city’s first civilian superintendent, bit the bullet in 1960 and closed several stations, leaving only 20. Five more have been added since then.
For every station closed, McCarthy estimated that 20 officers could be made available for street duty. The move would also free scores of additional officers now assigned to police areas who support those district operations.
“At the end of the day, the consolidated districts will have the largest police forces — meaning by district manpower,” the mayor said.
* And here’s his explanation for reducing library hours…
“As it relates to libraries, you should know two things: I know what other cities are doing is closing them. I know the important role that libraries play in the educational and cultural life of our city, and I’m going to stay committed to the goal of libraries in our communities so our kids have an opportunity to go and to learn — not just in school, but at home and at their libraries.”
Even the city’s libraries would be impacted. They’re currently open just 8 hours a day. Those hours could be shortened again. “No! Not here. It’s used too much. It’s always busy,’ said Arlene Rosado, library user.
* These won’t be popular ideas, to say the least…
* The city’s hotel tax will jump from 3.5% to 4.5%, putting Chicago “on an equal level with other major cities,” according to mayoral aides. But look for big squawks from the hotel industry, because the overall tax (including levies by the state and other governments) will jump to a lofty 16.4%.
* A “congestion fee” — a higher tax on certain central area parking lots during certain portions of the day — will be imposed. Team Rahm isn’t yet saying how much the levy will be, but is reporting that funds will be used to rebuild two downtown el stations and pay for an express bus system known as bus rapid transit. […]
* The city’s “condo rebate fee,” a $75-a-unit annual payment used to compensate owner-occupied condo residents for the cost of private garbage collection, will be abolished. That likely will pass, but only over the opposition of lakefront aldermen.
Reported projected annual savings are $10 million.* Not-for-profit institutions, from churches to schools, will lose free water. The only partial exception will be hospitals which primarily serve the poor, which will get a 20% discount on their water bill.
SUV owners will also pay more for city stickers, and fines will be increased for various violations.
* This appears to be a broken promise…
After initially rejecting the idea, Emanuel now will tap some surplus TIF dollars to help balance the city budget and also fund Chicago Public Schools and other local taxing districts, sources told the CNC. […]
Emanuel had said he preferred to avoid one-time fixes for deficits and instead would enact long-term changes.
“The TIFS are one time,” the mayor said in August.” “They don’t solve the problem. They don’t deal with the problem. Next year, we’d be back at it like Groundhog Day.”
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 4:07 am
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I would like to see the libraries forbid people from accessing porn on their public computers. This should drive out a bad element and improve the user experience for the remaining patrons. Last year when I visited the Fullerton Avenue library near DePaul University, I was shocked to see scruffy men accessing porn on the computers in a common room shared by other patrons.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 5:50 am
I smell a lawsuit on the condo thing. The City can either provide the same service to everybody or issue a rebate when it refuses to provide the service. But it seems like a stretch to say “you people don’t get the same service that everybody else gets.”
Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 6:42 am
Why don’t they call it a “hotel fee” like the “condo rebate fee” and the “congestion fee”? Fees aren’t taxes. Everyone knows that….
Comment by Holdingontomywallet Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 7:07 am
As painful as it may be, Rahm is the right guy for the right job at the right time. It is only too bad that Rahm couldn’t have replaced Daley as mayor of Chicago many years earlier. A great deal of futture financial pain for Chicago residents could and would have been avoided. Rahm has the leadership skills that are and were required. Daley had only the skills needed to run a parking lot somewhere in Chicago.
Comment by Wilson Pickett Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 7:30 am
Rahm is kinda our Chris Christie. Both straight talkers.
Spineless Illinois Rs and Ds (yes that’s most of you), try to learn something.
Comment by just sayin' Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:18 am
I’m not familiar with all the police buildings, but aren’t the three slated for closing districts that do not have that new design they put up all over the city? those are very large buildings and would seem that they could fit more personnel. also, some of the geographic areas of districts are small and how they are drawn does not make much sense. isn’t the point to have cars out working not police in some building?
Comment by amalia Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:19 am
Gimme a break. Rahm is another star struck mope like NYC Mayor and Presidential dreamer John Lindsay. Budget solutions? “Lock the doors and turn off the lights.”
Comment by The Flox Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:33 am
Fox not Flox. Hopefully, Rahm puts in a TV and newspaper subscriptions for da Police Chief. He must think all the gunfire are celebrants with firecrackers and nightly assaults and stickups are a new form of hide-and-go-seek. Now he’s praising O.W. Wilson. What chance have we got?
Comment by The Fox Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:39 am
Closing police stations, putting services on a grid rather than ward basis and putting the heat to streets and san is serious business.
There’s been a lot of p.r., but Emanuel has also shown a lot of guts in taking on the most Stalinesque aspects of the city’s bureaucracy.
What was the name of that Indispensable Man, the one the city couldn’t survive without?
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:42 am
It’s always easier to grow a bureaucracy, than to trim it.
Each and every expenditure has its own constituency which will defend its piece of the pie vigorously.
The devil in the details is to understand what overhead can be eliminated while continuing to provide City services. So far I am impressed by the Mayor’s willingness to reign in spending.
Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:45 am
I need more info on the reduced library hours. It’s fine as long as the library is open when the kids get out of school for the day. I don’t want to see reduced library hours mean reduced during the late afternoon and early evening.
Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:45 am
–I don’t want to see reduced library hours mean reduced during the late afternoon and early evening.–
I’m with you there. I hate the idea of cutting library hours. It’s like cutting oxygen to the brain. But we live in interesting times, with seemingly nothing but an endless stream of bad and worse choices.
Still, the weather’s been beautiful.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:50 am
Either open the libraries later in the day or drop a weekday from the schedule (Monday would be my pick, with libraries open longer on Sundays than they are currently).
Comment by Cheryl44 Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:14 am
I’m shocked, SHOCKED, that a Chicago mayor would use TIF to cover deficits.
Comment by Boone Logan Square Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:40 am
What’s interesting about the leaked details is how much Rahm is using the budget crisis to reshape policy. Putting garbage on the grid system transfers power away from the aldermen as it ought to save millions of dollars. (Ought to — it is of course possible that the next step is an onerous contract with Waste Management to take over garbage hauling in the name of privatization.) A congestion tax and raised fees on SUVs would fit the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s long-term transportation goals. Say what you will about Rahm (and I will), but he doesn’t lack vision.
Comment by Boone Logan Square Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:47 am
“Closing police stations…”
Might as well do it now. Crime is at an all time low and falling.
Comment by Kilroy Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:54 am
Belmont is the nearest station to my home. I think closing stations will be an easy issue for use by fear-mongers, but I still think it’s the right policy. The loudest complaining will be from cops who are very comfortable where they are and do not want to be sent to different locations. I’m sorry, but that’s not a good enough reason to maintain the status quo.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:01 am
Print media. Fading away.
More specifically: newspapers and libraries — both — fading away. (Internet. iPad. Kindle.)
Prudently cutting back (yet not eliminating) traditional “hard copy” libraries makes all kinds of sense over the longer term. (Not only in Chicago, but across the country.)
A harbinger: the Cook County Law Library at the Daley Center. Twenty years ago, one could hardly find a seat, much less more than a couple of square feet upon which to spread books. Today, the place is a morgue. Why? Online legal research has rendered it obsolete.
In short — library reductions and closures needn’t be reactive (as they appear to be at the moment). They can be, and should be, both incremental and prospective. That’s smart public policy.
And a new parking tax? You betcha. Surcharge the Loop lots the price of a bus or “L” ride, and pass the proceeds on to the CTA. Punitive? Maybe, maybe not.
But in a sense, an “L” tax is educational, too: for the privilege (privilege!) of parking in the Loop, pay the equivalent of a public transit fare. (And next time, think to take the bus!)
Me? From what I’m seeing and hearing — Emanuel is being measured and thoughtful with the city’s budget. I’m on board.
(Hmmmm. But then again — about those TIFs………)
Comment by Dooley Dudright Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 12:00 pm
The City Council in Harrisburg; the capitol city of Pennsylvania, voted to file for bankruptcy protection.
Given the under-funded pensions in chicago and the absence of options this may be the best alternative option for Chicago going forward as well. Neither cutting or taxing their way out of the current situation will address the elephant in the room, which is the unsustainable pension situation.
With the Tribune’s recent and ongoing revelations about the pension plan shenanigans that have helped to enrich some at the disasterous expense to others, I am surprised that there has not yet been a class action fduciary liability suit brought forward by taxpayers. Plan Trustees may be surprised to find that some aspects of their actions may expose them to personal civil liability which can not be indemniified by either the Plan or the City of Chicago.
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 12:03 pm
–Surcharge the Loop lots the price of a bus or “L” ride, and pass the proceeds on to the CTA. Punitive? Maybe, maybe not.–
I’m with you there, but the federales still allow you to sock away pre-tax dollars to park downtown. It’s crazy public policy that benefits only parking garage owners.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 12:12 pm
I think it’s refreshing to see Emanuel being more upfront about the problems than most. I hope he’s as hard nosed about making the tough calls as he appears.
However, I think Quinn T. Sential is really on the mark. No amount of service cuts and taxes are going to fix the liabilities the City has (pension/retirement and debt). Chicago is just buying time until bankruptcy because the State isn’t going to have the means to bail them out. So who lasts longer until the game is up, the State or Chicago?
Comment by Shemp Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 1:38 pm
–Chicago is just buying time until bankruptcy because the State isn’t going to have the means to bail them out.–
That’s absurd. Chicago isn’t anywhere near bankruptcy. Just because it’s raining doesn’t mean the sky is falling.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 1:47 pm
The condo rebate will result in a lawsuit as will the hotel tax hike.
Under Illinois law, I don’t believe the hotel tax can be used to close the city’s budget gap.
Look for opposition to the hotel tax not just from the hotel owners, but the entire hospitality industry and their union employees.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 2:21 pm
{That’s absurd. Chicago isn’t anywhere near bankruptcy. Just because it’s raining doesn’t mean the sky is falling.}
Please review the most recent Annual Reports and the Annual Actuarial Reports for the municipal pension plans. Chicago is insolvent.
At a given tipping point; perhaps in the not too distant future, the sky and the eath will come crashing together and they will have to begin selling assets to meet current obligations in order to meet their pension disbursements, not disimilar from the State of Illinois.
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 2:39 pm
Quinn, your Malthusian certainty aside, the city also has the power to cut services and raise revenues, and would certainly do both before declaring bankruptcy.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 2:44 pm
Wordslinger, you can use pretax dollars to pay for transit too. Although the max for parking is $240 and transit is $120.
Comment by Its Just Me Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 3:41 pm
I don’t understand why the property tax is the third rail. Chicagoans pay the lowest property taxes in the state when comparing homes of equal market value. A home worth $300,000, for example, pays about $4,000 in the City and over $6,000 in Schaumburg.
Comment by reformer Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 3:50 pm
reformer, try explaining that to a Chicagoan. Doesn’t compute for them.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 3:56 pm
===Doesn’t compute for them.===
It computes for us. And Schaumburg isn’t the best example because, like Chicago, it has a large sales tax base that helps keep property taxes in check. Evanston is a much better example. Or Springfield.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 4:10 pm
===Or Springfield. ===
Yes, we’ve been over that before here.
When I looked at houses in Chicago the prop taxes were $4K or less. Same price in Springfield they’re over $10K.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 4:19 pm
Again Rich, I don’t doubt that. I’m arguing that it’s because of the many other ways Chicago can raise revenue that keep our property taxes relatively low, sales taxes being chief among those.
Springfield’s tax base isn’t as broad, thus its governments are much more reliant on property taxes than Chicago.
You want lower property taxes, but do you think anyone in Springfield will pay $2 an hour to park their car on the street? And even if they don’t, a parking ticket in Springfield is like, $10. In Chicago it’s $50 minimum.
Like I said, it computes for us. We pay plenty in local taxes. Plenty.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 4:51 pm
Word:
Contemplate the following, and then provide some semblance of what you think a menu of revenue increases and service cuts that would materialize would be that would not devistate the city economically:
Chicago’s pension plans – like the State’s – are now dangerously underfunded.
At the end of FY2009 (calendar year 2009), the unfunded pension liability of the City’s
four pension funds totaled about $14.6 Billion, with an aggregate funded ratio of only
43% – about the same as the State’s. (This means the funds, as a group, as of December
31, 2009, had only about 43% of the value that would be needed to meet the plan
liabilities.)
The Policemen’s and Firemen’s funds were in the worst fiscal condition, with funded ratios of only 37% and 30%, respectively.
If the assets in Chicago’s pension funds earn in the range of 4-6% in coming years, the Firemen’s fund would run out of money in approximately 2019-2020, and the Policemen’s fund would run out shortly thereafter.
(Commission to Strengthen Chicago’s Pension Funds Final Report, Volume 1: Report and Recommendations.)
What would it take adequately to fund the Chicago pension plans if no reforms
are made?
• In FY2009, in accordance with the State-prescribed funding formula,Chicago funded its four plans to the extent of $443 Million, and City
employees contributed an additional $271 Million – for a total contribution to the pension plans of $715 Million.
In FY2012, assuming no changes in plan benefits or State-prescribed funding formulas, the total
contribution would increase to $793 Million.
• The problem is that the State funding formula is set too low – geared to the perceived ability of the City to contribute, rather than actuarial standards.
• The Mayor’s Commission found that if no reforms were made to plan benefits, but if annual pension funding were increased to actuarially required
levels, in FY2012 total contributions to the pension funds would have to increase from $793 Million (the present State formula level) to
$1.503 Billion – an increase of $710 Million.
(Commission to Strengthen Chicago’s Pension Funds Final Report, Volume 1: Report and Recommendations.)
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 5:09 pm
how many taxing districts are on the bill in SF? in chicago there is City, Parks, Schools, County, can’t remember what else they have but there is often a difference with other places because there are so many different taxing bodies. merge!!!!
Comment by amalia Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 5:36 pm
amalia, believe it or not, we have parks, schools and a county goverment here. Plus others.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 5:37 pm
Plus, unlike Chicago, we have city townships.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 5:38 pm