Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday froze hiring and travel in all city departments — including police and fire — and eliminated overtime “not directly required for public safety operations” to begin to confront Chicago’s burgeoning budget crisis. […]
He’s got just four months to fill a $223 million gap in 2024 caused, in large part, by the Chicago Board of Education’s refusal to absorb a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching school employees. After that, Johnson faces a $982.4 million deficit in 2025.
The mayor has warned “sacrifices will be made.” Those sacrifices will include freezing hiring at a $2 billion-a-year Chicago Police Department that already is roughly 2,000 sworn officers short of the strength it had just a few years ago.
It also means no new hires at the $663.8 million-a-year Chicago Fire Department, which is so short of paramedics and ambulances, the 80 ambulances it does have are “running night and day,” according to Pat Cleary, president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2.
Q: Have you had any discussions with the City of Chicago about their budget, if they’re seeking any help or relief from the state?
Pritzker: No.
Q: No?
Pritzker: They have not approached us about any of it. I’ve read things in the newspaper by, I think, mostly by advocates, not really the city, about what they might want. But, no.
Q: Is that something your budget team is discussing on concentrating?
Pritzker: as you know, we don’t plan our next budget until you know, I introduce it in February and I don’t think there’ll be any supplemental that’ll be discussing what the city would want, that we haven’t been asked.
Q: How are you feeling about that deficit that we’re dealing with a higher increase, Governor, I’m assuming [you have] an eye on that?
Pritzker: Well, listen, we’ve faced a lot of challenges at the state level. As you know, when I came into office, we had a lot of bills to pay off. We had to balance the budget anyway. And then, you know, we’ve managed, sometimes through tough times. You may remember, mid-year we had to cut $700 million from our budget because, frankly, revenues were going off a cliff during COVID. So we’ve been in situations like this. It’s very, very difficult and challenging, but you know, it’s something you can tough your way through, and then you’ve got to plan for years to come. You know how you’re going to manage the balanced budgets going forward without, you know, raising, broadly, taxes on the people of Illinois, and we managed to do that.
Q: The mayor’s been calling your name out and that of the state saying ‘Billion dollars, if the state cared they’d come up with it.’ Do you feel like they’re trying to make you the punching bag?
Pritzker: All I know is that I think mostly they’ve been talking about education dollars, and I’m the first person to want to put dollars into education. So if we had extra money, it would go to education. But remember, Chicago is 20 percent of the population of Illinois, so when we put money into education, it’s got to go to the other 80 percent also. And so we are, we always look to do that. We’ve been increasing education spending at the state level already during my tenure, if you include higher education, to $3 billion and so if we had extra dollars, believe me, that’s the first place we would look to put it.
Q: Is that causing a rift in your relationship at all, though? I mean, he’s using your name in public spaces like this…
Pritzker: Well, I know that the press likes to talk about some rift. The mayor and I actually get along very well. And there are challenges that we both have dealing with, you know, making sure we balance our budgets. And so I know how difficult this situation is, and I certainly sympathize with it. The State of Illinois provides billions of dollars to the city of Chicago every single year, and we’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t just, you know, snap our fingers and somehow money, we don’t print money at the state level, as you know, they do at the federal level, but at the state level, we can’t do that. We just have to make sure we’re, you know, getting through these difficult times.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* Quick video of that first question and his super-rare one-word response…
“Is that causing a rift in your relationship at all, though? I mean, he’s using your name in public spaces like this…”
In other words, “aren’t you mad about what the mayor said about you?!?”
I’d be embarrassed if a high school journalism student asked this question. No wonder Americans are absolutely stupefied.
The governor is very good at politics. The mayor is a disaster and this is going to be the second year the mayor goes without making a monetary ask of the state.
Rich, has someone asked about some of the threats or references that Stacey has made about CTU or the city possib
Suing the state over what? If they are suing for education dollars that argument isn’t going anywhere. The Court has already said that they can’t force the state to appropriate money. That argument was tried in the “state as the primary funder of education” argument. So they can waste money on lawyers if they want.
Saying little if anything serves Pritzker well in this situation. The state is not in a position to dig the city out of the massive hole it finds itself in. Obviously many of the problems pre-date Johnson’s tenure but someone is going to have to own up to the problem with the voters and wear the jacket of an inevitable property tax increase.
Would really bring us full circle if the CTU hired Jenner and Block to sue the state over education funding after demanding Claypool’s head for hiring Jenner and Block to sue the state over education funding.
Based on the Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) in 2022 (the most recent year available on the IIRC) CPS received 45% of their funding from state and federal sources. In comparison, our rural district received 23% from state and federal sources. We are a relatively poor rural district with 50% poverty. Our % of state and federal will be below 17% this year.
CPS has nothing to complain about relatively speaking. They can raise taxes without a referendum, we cannot raise taxes without a referendum. They can also divert TIF funds. We cannot.
The Mayor right now is like Wile E Coyote running over the edge of the cliff. At some point he’s going to look down and then…boom.
The Mayor needs the Governor right now far more than the governor needs the Mayor. The sooner he realizes that the better off we’ll all be. In the meantime, City Hall is headed for a $billion iceberg. It ain’t gonna be pretty.
CPS is covered by PTELL. So they do not have the ability to raise the levy absent a referendum. The City can raise the revenue and hand it over to the school district. But any home rule municipality could presumably do that too. (So not going to matter for rural areas.)
And the sad thing is, this is a known fact. The money isn’t there. And instead, we have the Fifth Floor continuing to operate as usual, appropriate away, and then seem stunned when they find out they have a billion-dollar hole. I’d ask if any of these people have to balance their own budget at home, but I don’t want to waste good air.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:08 pm:
“Is that causing a rift in your relationship at all, though? I mean, he’s using your name in public spaces like this…”
In other words, “aren’t you mad about what the mayor said about you?!?”
I’d be embarrassed if a high school journalism student asked this question. No wonder Americans are absolutely stupefied.
- Lookie Here - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:11 pm:
The governor is very good at politics. The mayor is a disaster and this is going to be the second year the mayor goes without making a monetary ask of the state.
Rich, has someone asked about some of the threats or references that Stacey has made about CTU or the city possib
- Lookie Here - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:11 pm:
Rich, has someone asked the gov about some of the threats or references that Stacey has made about CTU or the city possibly suing the state?
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:18 pm:
==possibly suing the state==
Suing the state over what? If they are suing for education dollars that argument isn’t going anywhere. The Court has already said that they can’t force the state to appropriate money. That argument was tried in the “state as the primary funder of education” argument. So they can waste money on lawyers if they want.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:18 pm:
===CTU or the city possibly suing the state? ===
I don’t think so, but that lawsuit is doomed. The supremes have knocked down, IIRC, three of them already.
- NIU Grad - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:26 pm:
One word answers…his law school training is serving him well today.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:41 pm:
Saying little if anything serves Pritzker well in this situation. The state is not in a position to dig the city out of the massive hole it finds itself in. Obviously many of the problems pre-date Johnson’s tenure but someone is going to have to own up to the problem with the voters and wear the jacket of an inevitable property tax increase.
- Juice - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:44 pm:
Would really bring us full circle if the CTU hired Jenner and Block to sue the state over education funding after demanding Claypool’s head for hiring Jenner and Block to sue the state over education funding.
- DuPage Saint - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 2:47 pm:
No. Just no such a great word. Maybe someone could explain it to the Mayor, to Reinsdorf and to the Bears
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 3:30 pm:
Based on the Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) in 2022 (the most recent year available on the IIRC) CPS received 45% of their funding from state and federal sources. In comparison, our rural district received 23% from state and federal sources. We are a relatively poor rural district with 50% poverty. Our % of state and federal will be below 17% this year.
CPS has nothing to complain about relatively speaking. They can raise taxes without a referendum, we cannot raise taxes without a referendum. They can also divert TIF funds. We cannot.
- New Day - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 3:48 pm:
The Mayor right now is like Wile E Coyote running over the edge of the cliff. At some point he’s going to look down and then…boom.
The Mayor needs the Governor right now far more than the governor needs the Mayor. The sooner he realizes that the better off we’ll all be. In the meantime, City Hall is headed for a $billion iceberg. It ain’t gonna be pretty.
- Juice - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 4:15 pm:
CPS is covered by PTELL. So they do not have the ability to raise the levy absent a referendum. The City can raise the revenue and hand it over to the school district. But any home rule municipality could presumably do that too. (So not going to matter for rural areas.)
- Just a guy - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 4:51 pm:
And the sad thing is, this is a known fact. The money isn’t there. And instead, we have the Fifth Floor continuing to operate as usual, appropriate away, and then seem stunned when they find out they have a billion-dollar hole. I’d ask if any of these people have to balance their own budget at home, but I don’t want to waste good air.
- Macon Bakin - Tuesday, Sep 10, 24 @ 5:32 pm:
Say it with me yall, L A N D V A L U E T A X N O W (and free the soda tax because high fructose corn syrup is so very unhealthy)