City Council OKs Budget, With Hefty Property Tax Increase

An overwhelming majority of City Council members approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $7.8 billion budget that includes a $588 million property tax hike to be spread over the next four years.

The budget will be funded by $720 million in new taxes, fines and fees. The dire measures are intended to address the city’s underfunded pension system as well as improve the city’s financial footing .

Before City Council members took the vote on Wednesday, North Side Ald. Pat O’Connor compared the city’s current fiscal decay to a “municipal illness.”

The $543 million incremental property tax will go toward police and fire pensions, the largest in city history.

The biggest chunk -- $318 million -- will be tacked on the to the 2016 tax bills payable in August 2016. Successive increases of $109 million payable in 2017, $53 million payable in 2018, and $63 million will be due in $2019, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

There is also a separate $45 million property tax increase that will fund school construction.

Chicago residents can expect the city’s first garbage collection fee, with a cost of $114 piled on to the city’s 613,000 owners of single-family homes, two-, three- and four-flats that still get city trash pickup. Senior citizens will receive a 50-percent discount.

City Council members voted 35-14 in favor of the budget. Those opposed included Aldermen Debra Silverstein (50th), Harry Osterman (48th), Brendan Reilly, (42nd), Gilbert Villegas (36th), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Christopher Taliaferro (29th), Roberto Maldonado (26th), Brian Hopkins (2nd), Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th), Ervin (28th), Deborah Mell (33rd), Napolitano (41st), Milly Santiago (31st) and Scott Waguespack (32nd).

Ald. David Moore (17th) joined those who voted against the budget in opposing the separate property tax increase.

Lakeview Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) said in an email blast to constituents that he supported the budget for three reasons: more police officers promised to the 19th Chicago Police District, a multi-million investment in Lake View High School to make it a quality neighborhood option which residents demand, and to fulfill the city’s contractual obligations to funding the pensions of its first responders.

“[This] budget does that … It is unfortunate that the funding levels were allowed to dip so low and huge lump sum payments need to be made. That is not the fault of our hard working police officers and firefighters who have contributed their share all along, but that was the reality with which the City Council had to deal today.”

Ald. Deb Mell (33rd) said in a statement on her Facebook page her opposition to the budget centered around the impact that the fee and tax increases would have on the working class residents in her ward.

“I’m concerned about the young family that has purchased their first home, the senior citizen living on a fixed income, the small business owners who are struggling to stay afloat, and the renters who are finding it more difficult to make ends meet in this great city. This property tax increase asks too much of these residents and not enough of those in Chicago who have the means to absorb a larger share of the tax burden.”

The mayor is banking on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s support to double the homeowner’s exemption in the city form $7,000 to $14,000, so that homes less than $250,000 would be protected from the hike. The City Council passed the homeowners exemption after the budget vote, the Sun-Times said, but it still needs to be passed in Springfield, where a house committee has already approved it.