Chicago:1968 webcomic miniposter - Mayor Daley said he woudn't raise taxes to refill the trough, so now it's time to slaughter the pig.
DALEY NEWS
Wednesday's edition, posted Thursday
10am, Wednesday, Oct. 21st, Mayor Daley delivered his 2010 budget address to a special session of the City Council.
DALEY CHATTER
There was plenty of 2010 budget chatter here on the Windy Citizen, where, despite some minor technical difficulties, we hosted our own live City Council viewing party thread, making use of City Clerk Miguel Del Valle's streaming video of the meeting and some brand new technological features that Windy Citizen CEO Brad Flora has assured will only improve for the next go around.
Not the only news outlet to embrace the cutting edge while Daley looked out over the fourth quarter '09 horizon, Chicago Public Radio's @WBEZpolitics tweeted --
9:31 AM Oct 21st from TinyTwitter
we'll be tweeting from mayor daley's budget address this AM. no tax or fee hikes expected but the mayor will dip into parking meter fund.
Indeed, expectations were met as even the Associated Press reported over the national wire --
During an address to the City Council, Daley said people have not suffered this much from a bad economy since the Great Depression and he won't propose any new taxes, fines or fees to help close an estimated $520 million budget deficit in the nation's third largest city.
Making up the $520 million difference between Chicago's income and expenses will cost residents a lot more than slimmed-down municipal services, but also, the Chicagoist laments, many of the city's famous seasonal diversions, as well --
We previously mentioned a few items -- Venetian Night, the lighted boat parade and fireworks display that attracts upwards of 500,000 each summer, is going bye-bye. There's also no money in the budget for the Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park, nor for the Chicago Criterium. The Chicago JazzFest, which arguably features the most talented musicians of the city's music festivals, is being shortened once again.
But Mayor Daley's refusal to burden Chicagoans with higher taxes, fines and fees during these tough times was a clever route for Hizzoner to take. Brilliant, too, was his attempt to spin the negativity associated with the parking meter lease deal into a political asset by tapping those funds directly to plug the city's budget holes.
And whenever there are holes to be plugged, or assets to be admired, Gapers Block is there --
Mayor Daley's Budget: One Fine Piece of Assets
Mayor Daley will be dipping into the city's reserves, specifically the $1bn+ fund created by the leasing of the city's parking meters to a private operator, to cover the enormous budget deficit of half a billion dollars that the city projects for next year.
As yet, not all of the city's aldermen are on board with the Daley plan. Chicago Public Radio's City Room illuminates these signs of aldermanic discord: 'Some Aldermen Criticize Plan to Tap Reserves' --
Several alderman say they're worried about using long-term reserves to balance next year's budget. Alderman Tom Allen suggests instead skimming money off the top of all the city's TIF funds, which are earmarked for neighborhood development.
ALLEN: Why can't we take resources that are in the TIF districts, income, and use it to plug this hole. Why do we give this money to private developers? Let's give it to the citizens.
That can't be done, according to a city spokeswoman. She says state law does not permit Chicago to spend TIF money on general expenses
Ald. Allen raises an interesting question: why can't we take resources that are in TIF districts?
Official word is that it "can't be done." Even so, the severity of the economic situation has shined a new light on these secret honey pots of stashed city money known TIF funds. And though the Sun-Times reports that Mayor Daley defends decision to raid city's reserves, neither the Mayor nor the Sun-Times makes any mention of the reserves in the TIF funds.
Propting Progress Illinois to pose A Question For Mayor Daley: Why So Quiet About TIF?
"Mayor Daley stands mute" - my unofficial entry into the WBEZ Blog's caption contest
The silence from the 5th floor is deafening.
From Progress Illinois --
But as we listened to him address the City Council this morning, we wondered if he'd make mention of the city's other major reserve, the $1.4 billion that's squirreled away in off-the-books tax increment financing (TIF) accounts. After all, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity for the mayor to make the case to skeptics -- Tribune columnists David Greising this week called the corporate TIF giveaways "a racket" -- that his economic development strategy is actually paying off?
Not surprisingly, Daley didn't deliver.
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Len Kody
South Sider. Comics Writer. Student of the rhetorical martial art of Journalism. More
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