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Dear neighbors,
Yesterday was a second day of voting on budget ordinances, this time in the Committee on Budget and Government Operations. I'm here to give you a run-down on what passed and how I voted. There were a number of standard issue measures (code corrections and fund transfers) that passed unanimously but the matters of most significant concern were the appropriations ordinance and the management ordinance.
The meeting started with a presentation and three hour discussion on the Revenue Ordinance that passed the day before. There are two conflicting points that I believe are mutually true. One, is that the revenue projections on several items are unrealistic on Council's part. I believe there is little chance that we will increase debt collection by almost 70% and knowing the pace of our procurement process (as pointed out in the E&Y report) it is highly unlikely that we stand up an augmented reality advertising program that generates millions of dollars by year's end. At the same time, I believe the administration was inaccurate on the number of items they predicted would generate zero dollars. Their own presentation undermined them: if an advertising on public vehicles pilot in 2014 generated $200K on just two vehicles, why would we believe it would generate zero dollars now?
The administration then put forward a budget appropriations (the services and personnel of the city) that included their perceived revenue projections. My colleagues proceeded to substitute an ordinance that changed those numbers to theirs. Neighbors, you cannot just vote to change numbers and have them be true if they're not? I cannot ethically–and potentially legally–pass a budget that I know to be out of balance. You expect and deserve better than that. This is why, while it passed, I voted against the budget appropriations ordinance yesterday.
Then we voted on the Management Ordinance, essentially an omnibus bill of various substantive changes. I was excited that the administration's management ordinance finally created the transparency Chicagoans deserve on speed camera revenue: where it's collected and how it's spent. That was stripped out in the substitute management ordinance put forward by my colleagues. It also removed Council oversight on Chicago Police Department overtime and gave the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development control over infrastructure across the whole of the city.
I will add that we were not briefed in this ordinance at all; a paper copy wasn't placed on people's desks until six hours into the meeting; and if you were participating remotely the PDF you received was missing half its pages. I'm not making this up! This is no way to pass legislation, no matter who it's coming from. For this reason I was a no vote, though it passed anyway.
Folks, I want a strong independent Council. But what we pass still has to be ethical and smart. Numbers aren't true just because they're copied and pasted in and we vote for them. If I vote for a budget that I know is out of balance and will be out of balance, what does that say of my commitment to good government?
I continue to reach out to my colleagues with more stable and realistic revenue options and I hope a compromise can be reached. Yesterday, I sent more than $170 million in stable, beneficial revenue ideas and savings to my colleagues:
- Because we are working so late into the year, our 2026 bond debt schedule is already set. I believe there are bond savings to be found in this budget and I am researching that with all parties on the budget.
- Both the administration and alternative budget teams stripped down the ride share tax structure, furthering gaps. I believe we can restore a rate-based tax that charges shorter rides less while raising more revenue via inflation-adjusting ride share fees.
- We need to have a longer conversation about the garbage fee–the administration's own reports suggest that, at minimum, inflation-adjusting the fees would bring us more than $25 million into the budget.
- This is all in addition to the other budget amendments I have introduced into City Council.
I will not allow City government to shut down, but we have to end up with better budget ordinances than we voted on these past two days.
Sincerely,
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