Some Commenters More Equal Than Others at Public Hearing on 2020 Chicago Budget

By Tim Hogan

CITY HALL- At the end of Wednesday’s city council meeting, tensions were exposed at the public hearing on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed 2020 city budget. Current reporting from the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, The Daily Line and elsewhere claim that the proposed budget faces a $50 million dollar shortfall after the mayor came back from her meetings in Springfield on Monday without securing any deals that would increase city revenue. It will not come as much of a surprise to most Chicagoans that the public hearing seemed structured to give the sense of public backing for the mayor's budget proposal. This was underscored by the hugely disproportionate amount of time given to the final public commenter, Lawrence Msall of the business-oriented Civic Federation.

Msall and the Civic Federation have long given budget analyses to the city council and they have released a 103 page analysis of the current budget proposal. Though he described the mayor’s plan as “creative and reasonable”, Msall criticized the plan as leaving “little room for error." Msall highlighted $163 million the city expects from the federal government for ambulance reimbursements and $50 million from a revised Real Estate Transfer Tax as not reasonable to include in revenue projections.

Mayor Lightfoot is trying to get the Illinois legislature to allow Chicago to increase its Real Estate Transfer Tax to close the gap in the 2020 budget, but has not been able to get the necessary votes in Springfield. According to Fran Spielman of the Sun-Times, Mayor Lightfoot’s top aides agree that the real estate transfer tax is dead for now. Until now, Lightfoot had insisted that property tax hikes were a ‘last resort’, but without deals on RETT and the Chicago Casino, that last resort may come. The ‘plan b’ budget proposal that was bandied about online also includes a hiring freeze at 2019 levels and the unspecified cutting of city services.

The Civic Federation also pushed for other revenue streams. First up, was a tax on retirees at the state level that, in their plan, would flow to municipalities. In Msall’s opinion, the tax on retirement income would be an appropriate balance of tax and revenue obligations in a state that had such a large proportion of aging residents. Upon hearing this proposal, Ald. Jason Ervin remarked “good luck with that” to hearty laughs from council members. After the chuckles had cleared, Msall asked mayor Lightfoot and the council to work with governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly on pension consolidation, a topic that has been obscured by our municipal and state governments for years.

For all Msall’s talk of creativity and flexibility, the Civic Federation’s proposals didn’t seem to bring much of either to the fact of the municipal debt and the pension obligations. During what became an extended back and forth between Msall and the council (an exercise the council did not undertake with the advocates of mental health and affordable housing), Ald. Brendan Reilly cued up Msall to say that a ‘head tax’ on large businesses is a bad idea. The head tax would be levied on big businesses in Chicago based on how many employees they have and is proposed as a way to get revenues from corporations and commuters who don’t pay their fair share. Ald. Leslie Hairston disagreed with the exchange Msall and Ald. Brendan Reilly held on the head tax. Hairston is among those who support the measure that is vehemently opposed by mayor Lightfoot and most of her allies. And there was no mention of negotiating with the city’s creditors and debts on behalf of its pensioners and citizens.

The role the Civic Federation has played as “neutral” budget analyzer has given it a large amount of influence with many city council members. Budget Committee chair Ald. Pat Dowell, along with Alds. Jason Ervin, and Patrick Daley-Thompson all thanked Msall and the Civic Federation for the information and analysis they have provided to the council on the mayor’s budget. They were among a larger group of Alds. who lobbied the mayor to allow Msall extra time to give the Civic Federations case. But not everyone on the council was so sanguine. Ald. Andre Vazquez passionately pressed Msall on what Vazquez said was the preference of big business interests embedded in the Civic Federation’s recommendations. Vazquez went as far as saying these business interests would benefit at the expense of taxpayers under the Civic Federation proposals. After some back and forth, Mayor Lightfoot reprimanded Ald. Vazquez for not letting the ‘guest’ answer his questions uninterrupted. Courtesy, it seems, is selectively the mayor’s chief value.

Even as a tightly-managed affair, the public hearing exposed problems that many Chicago citizens and groups have with the proposed 2020 budget . The first public speaker, Dri Xander from AFSCME 31 (a union advocating for working families and public service workers among others), urged the council and the mayor to add more money to mental health services. “Only 10% of the new funding is going to public clinics”. This sentiment was echoed in earlier public comments by Estella Diaz, a self-described survivor of abuse. Diaz asked Mayor Lightfoot and the city council to reopen mental health clinics for her sake and the sake of others who are struggling with lack of services. “I am 40 years old now, it is hard for me. I am asking you to reopen the mental health clinics. We are human beings. We are not a number, we are persons.”

Diaz continued, describing herself as a mother of 5, working hard to raise her kids with her husband. “But how can I do that if I am unwell? It’s very sad standing here right now asking for help for mental illness. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be at home, taking care of my kids.”

In another echo of earlier public comments, Sandra Schneller, speaking at the beginning of the council meeting, used her ‘citizens 3 minutes’ to talk about the “ exodus of poor folks here from Chicago”: hours later, at the end of his privileged presentation, Lawrence Msall warned "We have a population challenge here in Chicago."

In a town of tame expectations, it was nice to see some shared sentiment: ‘we have problems in Chicago.’ But as ever, only a narrow band of solutions are being considered in the halls and the chambers and the boardrooms of power.

Members of the public must fill out and hand in witness cards to speak. Photo: Tim Hogan

Highlights of the City Council meeting

Before the public hearing on the 2020 budget, the Chicago City Council convened its regular meeting this morning to hear public comments and to vote on ordinances, mayoral proposals and committee recommendations.

An affordable senior veterans living development was approved by the council with Ald. Carrie Austin the lone ‘no’ vote. This resonated late when during his comments at the public hearing, Kevin Jackson from the Chicago Rehab Network asked for more funding to be allocated for affordable housing from the city’s general fund. The issue of affordable housing looks to be an increasingly contentious issue in Chicago as it is in many cities in America.

Aviation Committee Chair Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th Ward) and Ethics Committee Chair Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) introduced an ordinance banning city council persons from lobbying at the city or state. This is in the wake of the ongoing corruption issues regarding Joe Berrios, Ed Burke, Danny Solis and the ballooning ComEd scandals.
According to Fran Spielman, “Chicago aldermen would be prohibited from lobbying state and local government — and their counterparts at those other levels would be barred from doing the same at City Hall”

Alds. Pat Dowell and Gilbert Villegas objected to the proposal to award the city’s audit contract to Deloitte & Touche because of low minority participation in the process. Ald. Villegas, who is Lightfoot’s floor leader also pointed out that minorities are tired of getting “crumbs” and that Deloitte has had the contract for 20 years. Mayor Lightfoot agreed with the Alds. assessment and said that next year the audit contract would be up for the bid process, opening it to other firms.
Fran Spielman tweeted that the “Same complaints about minority participation have been raised every year. This time, it's different because @chicagosmayor [Lightfoot] is promising to do something about it. She agrees that nobody should have a contract for 20 years, let alone the same auditor.”

As the Illinois Environmental Council tweets here, the Chicago City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Clean Energy Jobs Act at today’s meeting. The Illinois state bill aims for 100% renewable energy in Illinois by 2050. The bill seems unlikely to pass in the current veto session of the state legislature but activists are still pushing.

Mayor Lightfoot proposed a boost to restaurant workers making the subminimum wage before tips from its current minimum of $6.40 to $8.40 next year. The subminimum wage for tipped workers is the lowest amount in guaranteed wages an employee can legally make before their tips bring them up to the $13/hr minimum of the City of Chicago.
During the public hearing on the budget, restaurant server Matt Jones spoke against this proposal, saying that it would cost him money in tips. He seemed to think that the proposal would mandate that all restaurant workers be paid a minimum of $15 per hour, to “even the level” at his expense. “I worked hard to get a high-end restaurant where the prices are high and I can make good tips.” Mr. Jones testimony inspired impassioned responses from multiple council members before Mayor Lightfoot had to cut them short, reminding them “this is time for public comment, not alderman.”
"No one is trying to take your tips away. You've been given misinformation,” Ald. Susan Sadlowski-Garza told Jones.
1. Ald. Tom Tunney, a restaurant owner, reacted strongly to this "We could argue this until the cows come home." Tunney claimed that under this proposal, restaurants would add a service charge and would "destroy" the tipped system.
  Ald. Sophia King defended her proposal to end the tipped wage, which is supported by the progressive caucus and different than the mayor’s. King said the tipping system is built on "sexism and racism
2. Lightfoot’s proposal also would push to a $15 per hour minimum wage in Chicago faster than the Illinois state’s current law.

The council passed an ordinance allowing for marijuana related businesses to open in Chicago starting January 1, 2020.

The council and the mayor honored Richard Pfeiffer, longtime Chicago Pride Parade coordinator by standing for a moment of silence. Ald. Tunney was among those who spoke in his honor and mayor Lightfoot added "He fought for what was right. Let's continue Richard's work."

According to Fran Spielman, Alderman Ed Burke left city hall after the meeting, refusing to answer questions on calls for his resignation.

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Indicted Ald. Edward Burke leaves City Council meeting and refuses to respond to questions about demands for his resignation as 14th Ward committeeman. pic.twitter.com/HSt8bgExQ4
— Fran Spielman (@fspielman) November 13, 2019

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Background

The City Council has regularly scheduled meetings on the 2nd and 4th wednesday of every month, per the city’s municipal code, to address mayoral proposals, aldermanic proposals, public comments, and the recommendations of the councils many subcommittees. It can often be brisk affair, with the machinery of city government quickly churning out resolutions, ordinances, and staff appointments.

Highlights of the City Council meeting

Background

Further Reading: