Over the weekend, the Mayor’s office came back to City Council with a new proposal that eliminates a property tax increase for 2025 after initially proposing a historic $300 million property tax hike in the original budget proposal. Knowing that a $300 million increase was too burdensome for many families in Chicago, many of my colleagues and I had been working in good faith with the mayor over the past couple of months to identify what a reasonable increase could look like and how we can situate the city and taxpayers to have more predictability on minor increases year-over-year to keep up with the cost of inflation. In our 49th Ward budget survey, 68.6% of respondents said that they would support a $100 million property tax hike to maintain services.

 

After working closely with Progressive Caucus leadership and my colleagues across the ideological spectrum in City Council, we were able to winnow the property tax down to a $68.5 million increase, which would have been where the City was at had it not rescinded the CPI adjustments these past two years. This amounted to an additional $60/year, or $5/month, in property taxes for the average homeowner in Rogers Park. 

 

In the same survey, the most common open-ended comment we received was that City Council must do more to identify additional cuts and efficiencies in its budget. The budget has increased significantly under the past two mayoral administrations, and I was pleased to see that the Mayor’s office came back with additional eliminations from his office as well as $8 million in police vacancies and $2.8 million in eliminations of vacancies across city departments. 

 

We also worked very hard to identify additional revenue opportunities that the mayor chose not to include in the original budget proposal. These included an increase in the valet and garage parking tax, an increase in cloud computing taxes, and an increase in the grocery bag tax. The parking garage and valet tax will be increased from 22% to 23.5%, seven days a week. This tax is considered a luxury tax that primarily impacts the central commercial district. With robust transportation options readily available to Chicagoans, this avenue was pursued in lieu of more regressive taxes that would disproportionately impact low-income households. 

 

The cloud computing taxes will be raised from 9% to 11% in 2025, generating an additional $128 million in revenue a year and making up the largest chunk of the property tax reduction. With major projects, such as the Quantum Computing campus, slated to come to Chicago, it is incumbent upon this body to rethink how technology and corporations help contribute to the greater common good. Chicago cannot continue to balance its budget on the back of working families. In 2025, the Department of Environment will embark on a study on the environmental impact of data centers and how Chicago can better position itself to benefit from these opportunities flocking to the Great Lakes region. We hear too often from greedy corporations that they can’t pitch in, yet they use a disproportionate amount of our resources and have a significant environmental impact. We need to ensure they pay their fair share and benefit our communities for generations to come. 

 

The increase from $0.07 to $0.10 single-use bag tax helps adjust for inflation and aligns Chicago with what our suburban neighbors - including Evanston, Oak Park, and Northbrook - currently charge for their bag tax. The bag tax has not seen any increases to its fee structure since being introduced nearly a decade ago. In addition to the impact single-use bags have on our environment, they also jam up our sewage system and cost the City millions of dollars each year in cleaning services. Chicagoans can avoid paying this tax by bringing reusable bags to the store when completing errands.The Progressive Caucus also fought for, and won, continued investments in our communities. These investments include $40 million in affordable housing and homelessness, continued investments in youth employment through the One Summer Chicago program, additional investments in gender-based violence funding, and no cuts in essential government services.

 

While these aforementioned items might help divert an immediate downgrade by the credit bureaus, I still have concerns that the latest version of the budget ostensibly delays Chicago’s need to confront the structural changes required to ensure long-term financial stability. The budget that passed relied on delayed a $40 million payment on a loan for the Michael Reese site, which is a one-time option and will result in additional accrued interest.

 

Chicago deserves better, and I am committed to starting 2025 working closely with the Office of Budget Management and the Comptroller’s Office to avoid the chaos and turmoil that transpired this year. With the passage of today’s budget, City Council was able to introduce an ordinance that will change the budget process moving forward. I am proud to co-sponsor, along with Alderman Vasquez, the ordinance requiring additional reporting and workforce analyses to be turned over to City Council throughout the year. This operational change will better position City Council to analyze and review data and information earlier in the year so it can be more deliberative and effective in planning for future budgets.​​​​​​​​​

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