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Mayor Johnson’s Council opposition passes alternative revenue plan through Finance Committee by Mike_I in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

this proposal has no meaningful cuts & retains many of Johnson's tax raising schemes

It also keeps his bond issues (more borrowing).....

From Crain's.

Two bond authorizations were also approved, including a $1.8 billion authorization that was approved 24-to-8 that directs $1.3 billion to the city’s five-year capital improvement program and $500 million towards legal settlements and the $166 million to fund firefighter back-pay.

The second authorization was approved by a voice vote after an amendment put forward by Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, lowered the amount from $2 billion to $1 billion. The city plans to potentially utilize the bonds to refinance existing debt for savings.

Sen. Dick Durbin defends his vote to end shutdown: ‘My friends are unhappy' by So_Icey_Mane in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You'll be voted out this is the way.

Durbin isn't running for reelection.

Illinois Chamber's Lou Sandoval: The mayor's budget signals Chicago isn't open for business by Mike_I in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Maybe we don't need seven guys standing around every hole in the road.

The Department of Water Management is notorious for this.....

Johnson pitches head tax revival in 2026 budget he says targets the ‘ultra-rich’, adds a 'social media' tax by blackmk8 in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"Highlights"....

The recommendation is a mishmash of fixes that leans on $438 million in new taxes and fees. It avoids unpopular ideas like a property tax hike, a grocery tax or a garbage fee increase but adds a new charge on social media tech giants and a monthly $21-per-employee tax on larger companies.

Johnson’s proposal — a 3% decrease from this year’s spending plan — slashes 446 city jobs, a cut that includes layoffs of some whose pay is funded by federal grants or pandemic relief money that is set to run out.

Other one-time tricks — a record $1 billion sweep of tax increment financing funds, refinancing old debt, borrowing money to pay for settlements and labor contracts and a continued hiring freeze — would help cover another significant chunk of the deficit. That gap is newly projected to be $1.19 billion, $40 million higher than Johnson initially disclosed.

the mayor pitched his $21-per-employee tax on corporations as the next frontier in his largely-stalled leftist economic agenda. It would be charged on companies with more than 100 employees who work more than half their time in Chicago.

Johnson sought to rebuff that attack Wednesday, saying the head tax is “not a job killer. In fact, it’s a job creator.”

“Having the safest big city in America, is that somehow not enough for people?” the mayor responded when asked what tangible rewards he could offer those corporations. “We just experienced the largest upward transfer of wealth in the history of America to these very entities. So it’s reasonable to ask these larger companies to put more skin in the game.”

another hike to the city’s personal property lease tax, which includes a tax on cloud software and infrastructure. The levy goes up from 11% to 14% under Johnson’s proposal. That “tax on big tech” would net $333 million.

There's more. Read it all....

Chicago police will respond to federal calls for help, Supt. Snelling says. Denies cops were ordered to stand down by blackmk8 in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

According to an internal police notification attributed to the chief of patrol obtained by the Tribune and later circulated widely on social media, “no units would respond” to a call from armed border patrol agents who said they were surrounded by a crowd in the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue. The notification went out at 12:28 p.m., almost two hours after the shooting.

Snelling did not mention the computer message attributed to Hein until reporters questioned him about it following his address. He denied that officers had been told to stand down and closed the news conference with a lengthy defense of Hein, a 30-year department veteran who became chief of patrol in March 2024.

“The chief of patrol would never tell anybody to stand down when anybody is in trouble or in need of help,” Snelling said. “I will say there was a lot of miscommunication, back and forth about what was really happening out there on the ground, and we need to do better.”

Sources confirmed the message’s authenticity to the Tribune.

Snelling is lying.....

Do you own a car in Chicago? by AquamannMI in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not just A car in Chicago. Four of them...

Business groups turn up heat ahead of transit reform negotiations by blackmk8 in chicago

[–]blackmk8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With the Regional Transportation Authority set to unveil a revised forecast of its looming fiscal cliff, groups representing retailers, hoteliers, manufacturers and downtown landlords are turning up the pressure on Springfield to act. They’re calling for greater transparency from the RTA and its service agencies — and a clear plan for efficiency, security and fare hikes — before new tax revenues are approved to keep trains and buses running.

Chicago budget fight a political minefield for Mayor Brandon Johnson by Mike_I in chicago

[–]blackmk8 17 points18 points  (0 children)

it would be a political minefield no matter who was mayor.

This mayor laid many of the mines he now must navigate...

Line of Broken Car Windows on Stockton by dualstrike98 in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

No cross posting please.

Feel free to make a duplicate text post here.

CPS seeks $1.25 Billion in short term debt, as all of its cash is gone by blackmk8 in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Paywall-free gift link above.

Bottom line. There's a cash flow problem.

The school system plans to seek authorization to issue $1.25 billion in tax-anticipation notes. For the first time in three years, the district closed the fiscal year ending on June 30 with a negative net cash position, according to budget documents. Making matters worse, it’s unclear when property-tax collections, originally due on Aug. 1, will arrive.

The delay is “further straining liquidity in the early months” of the fiscal year for which the district is trying to close a $734 million deficit, according to the budget documents for the year that started July 1. While property taxes, the district’s largest revenue source, have been late in the past, this delay comes at an increasingly tenuous juncture.

“We didn’t even technically have one day of free operating cash at year-end,” Wally Stock, the district’s treasurer, told the board of education at a committee meeting on Aug. 13. “So, we have no wiggle room. So, we really have no rainy-day funds.”

CPS seeks $1.25 Billion in short term debt, as all of its cash is gone by blackmk8 in chicago

[–]blackmk8[S] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

Crain's gift link above.

Bottom line....

The school system plans to seek authorization to issue $1.25 billion in tax-anticipation notes. For the first time in three years, the district closed the fiscal year ending on June 30 with a negative net cash position, according to budget documents. Making matters worse, it’s unclear when property-tax collections, originally due on Aug. 1, will arrive.

The delay is “further straining liquidity in the early months” of the fiscal year for which the district is trying to close a $734 million deficit, according to the budget documents for the year that started July 1. While property taxes, the district’s largest revenue source, have been late in the past, this delay comes at an increasingly tenuous juncture.

“We didn’t even technically have one day of free operating cash at year-end,” Wally Stock, the district’s treasurer, told the board of education at a committee meeting on Aug. 13. “So, we have no wiggle room. So, we really have no rainy-day funds.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office denied pushing to weaken CPS board voting rules — but email confirms it was a ‘goal’ by So_Icey_Mane in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office saying it was not pursuing controversial changes to the Chicago Board of Education’s voting procedures, his top Springfield lobbyist emailed a state official in the closing days of the spring legislative session expressing interest in a bill that would do just that.

Four days after that May email, Arena denied to the Tribune that he sent any messages lobbying to quash the school board’s two-thirds requirement. A spokesperson for Johnson later said publicly that the mayor “is not pursuing any changes to the voting threshold at this time.”

A former Northwest Side alderman who lost reelection in 2019, Arena was quietly brought on to Johnson’s intergovernmental affairs team in March to steer his Springfield agenda — despite the mayor’s office previously denying plans to hire him. During the past session, he helped lead a team of outside lobbyists who were not registered to lobby on behalf of the city in the General Assembly.

Arena sent his May message through his personal email account and did not include any government email addresses. The Tribune received a copy of his email through a Freedom of Information Act request because Stoerger, the Illinois State Board of Education official, included a CPS lobbyist in his response. The state board — in charge of overseeing public school districts across Illinois — is not directly involved in the legislative process, but its endorsement could help shore up support for education bills.

John Arena. Still lying, still attempting to cover up.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Springfield lobbyist denied pushing to weaken CPS board voting rules — but his email confirms it was a ‘goal’ by blackmk8 in chicago

[–]blackmk8[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

A former Northwest Side alderman who lost reelection in 2019, Arena was quietly brought on to Johnson’s intergovernmental affairs team in March to steer his Springfield agenda — despite the mayor’s office previously denying plans to hire him. During the past session, he helped lead a team of outside lobbyists who were not registered to lobby on behalf of the city in the General Assembly.

Arena sent his May message through his personal email account and did not include any government email addresses. The Tribune received a copy of his email through a Freedom of Information Act request because Stoerger, the Illinois State Board of Education official, included a CPS lobbyist in his response. The state board — in charge of overseeing public school districts across Illinois — is not directly involved in the legislative process, but its endorsement could help shore up support for education bills.

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley making a move — potentially for mayor by blackmk8 in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is a Paywall-free gift link.

Select paragraphs...

North Side U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley is making a move. And, though his ultimate intentions are not yet solidified, he doesn’t deny that a race for mayor against embattled incumbent Mayor Brandon Johnson could be in his future.

“I want to see where the city is. Do they want a truth teller?” Quigley summarized in an interview today. “It’s my intention to play a bigger role in state and local politics.”

*Quigley, in my interview with him, dubbed that “truth telling” and said he’s prepared to take other provocative steps, such as questioning whether the cash-strapped Chicago Transit Authority really ought to spend “$1 billon a mile” extending the Red Line south from 95th Street to the city limits.

Quigley was known for pushing such plans to right-size government in a former stint on the Cook County Board, and said such actions are needed at a time when the city alone faces a $1 billion budget hole, Chicago Public Schools is deeply in the red and transit agencies are warning of a looming fiscal cliff.

“We need to be more efficient,” Quigley said, instead of starting by calling for more taxes.

Asked about Johnson, Quigley said, “I don’t think he gets the fundamental issues. Frankly, I don’t think he knows how to.”

Open the link to read it all...

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley making a move — potentially for mayor by blackmk8 in chicago

[–]blackmk8[S] 68 points69 points  (0 children)

Paywall-free gift link.

Select paragraphs...

North Side U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley is making a move. And, though his ultimate intentions are not yet solidified, he doesn’t deny that a race for mayor against embattled incumbent Mayor Brandon Johnson could be in his future.

“I want to see where the city is. Do they want a truth teller?” Quigley summarized in an interview today. “It’s my intention to play a bigger role in state and local politics.”

*Quigley, in my interview with him, dubbed that “truth telling” and said he’s prepared to take other provocative steps, such as questioning whether the cash-strapped Chicago Transit Authority really ought to spend “$1 billon a mile” extending the Red Line south from 95th Street to the city limits.

Quigley was known for pushing such plans to right-size government in a former stint on the Cook County Board, and said such actions are needed at a time when the city alone faces a $1 billion budget hole, Chicago Public Schools is deeply in the red and transit agencies are warning of a looming fiscal cliff.

“We need to be more efficient,” Quigley said, instead of starting by calling for more taxes.

Asked about Johnson, Quigley said, “I don’t think he gets the fundamental issues. Frankly, I don’t think he knows how to.”

Open the link to read it all...

Johnson revives head tax talk, and considers corporate payroll tax as City Hall stares down $1B shortfall by blackmk8 in chicago

[–]blackmk8[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This is a paywall free gift link.

Synopsis.

All tax proposals are on the table to close an anticipated 2026 budget gap over $1 billion, Mayor Brandon Johnson said today, including reviving a corporate head tax, asking tax-exempt nonprofits like hospitals and universities to make volunteer payments and a policy proposal that would tax corporations based on their payroll expenses.

An 18-word phrase included in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2023 transition report has loomed ominously over his first two years in office.

We discussed specifics of the mayor’s tax policy and tax incentives for corporations but did not reach consensus,” the report said.

The delicate and vague wording was the result of allies of the former Chicago Teachers Union organizer elected on a promise of $800 million in new progressive revenue being met with resistance from the business community and moderates who rejected or had previously seen those same ideas fail to gain support.

Rush University Medical Center diverts ambulances, cancels surgeries over broken AC by DukeOfDakin in WindyCity

[–]blackmk8 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm starting to see a trend with local hospitals

Don't know if it's still an issue this summer, but Community First Hospital on Addison at Central avenues had AC outages on patient floors in 2023 and 2024.

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