As Mayor Lori Lightfoot works to build support for her 2021 budget, she has withdrawn her plan to fire hundreds of city workers to close Chicago’s $1.2 billion deficit.
Lightfoot’s city spending plan, unveiled last month, called for hundreds of workers to lose their jobs as a cost-saving measure, but the move has been met with fierce resistance from aldermen and labor unions.
“After many productive conversations, we have come to an agreement to avert any layoffs of city workers in the 2021 budget,” Lightfoot and Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter said in a joint statement. “This will ensure Chicago’s public workers, the backbone of our neighborhoods, maintain their jobs and health insurance while also protecting the critical services Chicagoans rely on during these unprecedented times.”
Although the layoffs were a high-profile part of her plan, the job cuts would amount to roughly $13 million, which is a small part of a $12.8 billion budget. Lightfoot will have less trouble filling that gap with other revenue projections or cuts than she would trying to push it through the City Council, where she is struggling to find the 26 votes she needs.
In a call with reporters, city officials did not specify any terms of the agreement with the union. But they said sales tax revenue from cannabis sales would help make up the money they otherwise expected to save through job cuts.
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As first reported in the Tribune, Lightfoot’s approach to closing a projected $1.2 billion hole relies on a 3-cent gas tax hike and a $94 million property tax increase. It also includes a provision to raise property taxes annually thereafter by an amount tied to the consumer price index.
In addition, Lightfoot is asking to refinance $501 million in city debt for the 2021 budget, which would provide a jolt of new revenue next year but likely cost taxpayers more down the road. Similar borrowing tactics under Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel drew deep criticism, but the Lightfoot administration said the city’s current financial disaster makes such a move appropriate.
Lightfoot has tried to head off opposition to the property tax hike and spending plan, calling it a “modest” increase and arguing that she’s taken other measures to reduce the hit on taxpayers.
On Wednesday, Lightfoot delivered an aggressive message to City Council members: Those who vote against her spending plan should not expect their wards’ needs to be prioritized, according to aldermen.
Lightfoot met virtually with members of the City Council Black Caucus, where she made waves by telling them that aldermen who don’t support her budget won’t have their wards prioritized, according to six aldermen who were in the meetings.
“Don’t come to me for s— for the next three years” if you don’t support the budget, two aldermen recalled her saying.
gpratt@chicagotribune.com
