Illinois Legislative News: September 16, 2024
Third Reading Consulting Group
Following the announcement that Chicago will face a projected $982.4M budget gap in 2025 and a $223M budget gap at the end of 2024, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget office issued a citywide hiring freeze on Monday, September 9. The hiring freeze was originally supposed to impact all city government positions, including police and firefighters, and establish limits on non-essential travel and overtime excluding required public safety operations. However, following backlash from first responders and their allies on the City Council, Mayor Johnson changed course and exempted police and firefighters from the hiring freeze. The City of Chicago reported that the freeze, with police and firefighters exempted, would impact an estimated 3,500 positions, and save around $100M. This is the first of many cost saving measures that Chicago will need to take to close 2024 and 2025 deficits.
Beyond cutting costs, Chicago could look to increase property taxes, legalize video gambling, allow slot machines in airports, or ask the State of Illinois for additional funding. Gov. J.B. Pritzker reported that Major Johnson and other Chicago officials have not talked to him about any city budget issues yet. Johnson and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates both traveled to Springfield throughout the General Assembly session to lobby for an additional $1B in funding for Chicago Public Schools (CPS), although the proposal did not receive much traction in Springfield.
The state’s FY 2025 budget already passed and took effect on July 1, without additional funding for Chicago or CPS. A supplemental budget at the state level would be required to provide additional funding to Chicago. However, Gov. Pritzker made it clear that a supplemental budget for this purpose would be unlikely given that the state has limited resources, and the FY 2025 budget already relies on new revenue sources to be balanced. On top of that, legislators will need to address a projected $750M deficit for Chicagoland transit agencies beginning in 2026, further constraining the state’s discretionary spending. Pritzker said, “The State of Illinois provides billions of dollars to the City of Chicago every single year and we’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t just snap our fingers; we don’t print money at the state level.” With state intervention appearing unlikely, Mayor Johnson will need to look to other ways to generate new revenue and cut costs to close the city’s budget deficit.
Important Upcoming Dates – Statewide
November 5 – 2024 General Election
November 12-14 – Veto Session Week 1
November 19-21 – Veto Session Week 2
