Manifolds, Manolos, and Manure
Prior to the New Year, Chicago’s mayor managed to quarterback his budget to approval. The process took four attempts and passed by a slim 27-23 margin.
This year’s budget exposed a glaring weakness in Chicago’s charter. But wait. What is a charter? A municipal charter is a legal document defining a city’s structure, powers, boundaries, and procedures. A charter is inferior to state laws but superior to city ordinances. Charters convey power to cities, which is necessary because the U.S. Constitution only lays out two levels of government: federal and state.
Chicago’s first charters were conferred in 1833 and 1835. Both were reflective of Chicago’s then small population and size. In 1837, Chicago received a charter that divided it into six wards and allowed for a mayor to be elected to a one-year term. Changes to the charter or a new charter were approved in 1847, 1851, 1853, 1857, 1861, and 1863. The most notable outcome of these changes was that the mayor had control over appointments and offices that were not elected.
Following the 1870 Illinois Constitution, charters were no longer granted; instead Chicago was subject to the Cities and Villages Act (65 ILCS 20). The Act is general and grants certain governing powers to units of local government. Numerous suburban municipalities used this Act to incorporate. For the next 100 years, Chicagoans and the state legislature would disagree about what a new charter should include for the city and the powers it should grant.
In 1970, Illinois drafted a new Constitution and with it, Chicago gained new home rule powers. Chicago today remains a special charter municipality. But it still retains much of the governing structure it had prior to 1870.
Chicago’s charter today grants authority and control to the mayor with far less to the city council. The mayor has the authority to introduce and shape the budget and Aldermen have the ability to approve or not approve the budget. Under the charter Aldermen don’t have the authority to change the budget.
Alderman Gilbert “Gil” Villegas has reached out to the Illinois Legislature to change the charter to grant more power to the city council.
In another move to express the council’s growing independence, Aldermen approved the responsible budgeting ordinance, which contained some budget improvements including an earlier budget deadline to increase transparency, more power to the Council Office of Financial Analysis, and enhancing the information available to the public.
Although Chicago’s budget does not include a property tax hike despite the mayor proposing a $300 million, $150 million, and $68.5 million increase – all of which were rejected. Do remember that just nine years ago former Mayor Rahm Emanuel ushered through a $588 million increase, the largest in Chicago’s history. However, the current mayor failed to get his tax approved.
To cover the $17.1 billion spending plan without increasing property taxes, cutting jobs, or reducing services, the city is skipping a $40 million loan payment. Businesses will pay more for software licenses, cloud services, and digital goods. Residents who enjoy streaming services will pay more, to the tune of $12.9 million annually. Those individuals parking in parking garages or restricted parking areas will pay more. Continuing the pain, those residents who rely on ride-hailing services will pay a new surcharge assuming they start or end their ride in the Central Business District between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on the weekend. The weekday surcharge will also increase. Surcharges are expected to add $8.1 million. It will also cost more to shop. Shoppers using those pesky single-use paper or plastic bags will now pay 10 cents for each bag.
Budgets aren’t usually created in a vacuum, but it appears that Chicago’s budget was. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, Governor Pritzker told Politico that the Chicago Mayor Johnson never called about the city’s budget negotiations. Though the mayor was very insistent that the state should help out the city. Perhaps it’s time for a phone call rather than very public shots from the podium.
On an equally as interesting note, in fundraising circles the fourth quarter is generally not considered to be a period for big-money donations but don’t tell that to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. He raised nearly $1 million. Perhaps he’s joining the already long list of Democratic officials and insiders considering a run for mayor in 2027.
While the Chicago budget and the 2027 municipal election aren’t farming, they do impact Farm Bureau members and Chicago residents. All of which are of interest and important to the Farm Bureau.