Chicago Mayor Johnson facing $1 billion deficit; seeking bailout from the state

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is likely to face some resistance from elected officials when he leads a delegation to Springfield on Tuesday. Chicago faces a more than $1 billion budget deficit and the mayor is likely to ask for state taxpayers to pay more to bail out the city.

The mayor plans to meet with Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, D-Hillside, and state Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, among others, at the Illinois Capitol.

Johnson’s chief of staff is former Illinois state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, D-Chicago. She says the mayor’s team remains focused on revenue.

“So that’s the telecom tax as well as the 911 surcharge, there’s been some discussions around the PPRT (Illinois Personal Property Replacement Tax) within the budget, the One System Initiative investments, and then, of course, transit and having those discussions,” Pacione-Zayas said.

Pacione-Zayas also mentioned increased reimbursements for services mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education, such as transportation, special education and bilingual education.

Pritzker said his administration put the budget together in the latter half of last year and presented it in February. The governor did not rule out changes to accommodate Chicago.

“It’ll be hard for us to talk about things in the current budget, though again, maybe there are things we can move around in the budget that’ll be beneficial to the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said.

The mayor has previously asked for more state funding of education and suggested progressive revenue ideas.

“That’s a decision by the city of Chicago about whether they will find sources of progressive revenue,” Pritzker said.

Johnson said the city is facing a budget deficit of more than $1 billion, but Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack told The Center Square the budget shortfall is actually going to be $1.5 billion or more.

Waguespack said the mayor’s office doesn’t have a legislative agenda, especially on budgetary or finance issues. He said aldermen have been trying to put together an agenda.

“With the mayor, you know, poking the eye of the governor, it’s not going over well, so we are trying to speak to the governor’s people to really kind of work in a different way, in a different kind of partnership, because we know we’re going to need state assistance and federal assistance to get through this next year,” Waguespack told The Center Square.

Chicago Public Schools outlined plans for students, parents and educators to travel to Springfield Tuesday to advocate for more education funding and urged school families to lobby state lawmakers.

CPS agreed to an estimated $1.5 billion-dollar deal with the Chicago Teachers Union earlier this month. The agreement raises the average CPS teacher’s annual base salary to more than $114,000 by the time the four-year contract ends.

Illinois state Sen. Craig Wilcox, R-Woodstock, said Johnson is “renewing his push for increased state funding for the city despite ongoing criticism from Republican lawmakers who say suburban and downstate taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for the City’s poor financial decisions.”

“We are, after all, not the Mayor’s personal piggy bank,” Wilcox said in an email to constituents. “Taxpayers should not be left to once again bail out Chicago for years of financial mismanagement. Rather, the Mayor should focus on implementing real reforms instead of asking overtaxed Illinoisans to take on additional burdens that benefit only Chicago.”