We will have to adjust to a different Chicago
The city is looking at service and operational cuts the next few years
When Chicagoans elected candidate Brandon Johnson, it was somewhat of a joke that the man who would determine who the city’s finance and budget directors would be, owed the city thousands of dollars in unpaid water and sewer bills, as well as parking tickets. The newly elected mayor even joked during a news conference his first month that he was on a payment plan with the city. What he didn’t share was he had missed several payments on that plan
What extends that scenario beyond gossip, or an opponent trying to make Johnson look bad is the reality that he inherited a half-billion-dollar deficit; and has announced no plans to slash it. In fact, since taking office, his budgetary controls can only be classified as non-existent. Financial types, economists and others who track municipal dollars agree that Chicago is headed for budget deficit of more than $1.2 billion by 2026.
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That means with two years of a Johnson-controlled budget, Chicago’s deficit doubles. This time, the mayor can’t initiate his TPA (the previous administration) refrain where he claims he inherited a particular problem. Nope, there will be no scapegoat available when Chicago hits its largest budget deficit in its 147-year history. Nor can the mayor whimper about how much the State of Illinois owes Chicago; and that assessment has been looked at inside out and Johnson repeatedly comes out on the losing end.
That whopping number that the deficit represents leaves the administration with few options - none of them pleasant. The complement of Chicago police officers can’t be increased above its already depleted numbers, which is estimated at 900 below what it should be.
We also should expect to see personnel cuts in most departments, along with buyouts of longtime employees-both moves will be aimed at staunching the flow of red ink. The impact also will be felt as fewer services are provided; and delivery of those that aren’t cut will take longer.
Attempting to renegotiate union contracts, delaying pending negotiations, and altering pension payments also are likely in the cards. All of those lead to more disgruntled employees, and residents trying to figure a way out of here to a cheaper city.
The entire budget situation is exacerbated when one considers the Chicago Public Schools just opened the new school year with a $450 million deficit staring back at it. Johnson offered the foolhardy proposal that CPS take out a short-term loan to cover the deficit and pending pay raises for the Chicago Teachers Union members. Every high school freshman who has completed an economics class knows the shorter the term of a loan, the higher the interest rate, and the more difficult it becomes to pay off that loan.
The Johnson handpicked school even nixed the borrowing suggestion.
The mayor has been steadfast in his campaign promise not to increase property taxes; however, with the severity of the deficits Chicago is facing, we should expect to see that promise fly away soon. Any politically savvy mayor would have never made such a commitment.
Taxpayers have no friends in the Chicago City Council as its members continue to emulate the old Smothers Bros TV Show where they said all the other one does is “bicker bicker bicker.” Alderpersons for the most part, seem content to let the mayor dangle on the rope he chose to hang himself. He doesn’t have the consistent allies to cut him down.
If the Johnson Administration is serious about not worsening the financial situation; it will get out of its own way. The first step involves securing an unbiased out-of-state firm to conduct and complete a financial audit of the city’s ledgers to determine the exact budget numbers. That should be followed by a department-by-department “desk audit” to ensure that any duplication of services by city employees is minimal or non-existent. Such an audit will tell if employees are working in the job classification they are supposed to be in and not have promotions withheld because the city is trying to save money.
What is likely to be most painful for Johnson is cutting his bloated staff. There is no question some of the newly anointed deputies can have their responsibilities combined. In a move that would give the mayor the elusive status of leader that he has so desperately been seeking; he should announce he is taking a pay cut of at least 10 percent and ask department heads and alderpersons to follow suit.
His children are enrolled in public schools, so there are no tuition costs there; his wife is employed and Johnson himself is making more money than on any job he has previously held. It is past time he decides whether he is working for the citizens or the Chicago Teachers Union- who will truly dump him if they don’t get what they want from the mayor’s office.