by Bob Walsh
Lori
Lightfoot, arguably the least competent big city mayor in all the land,
has released her $16.7 billion city budget. About two billion of it is
federal money from the American Rescue Plan which hopefully will fill
in the budget holes for the next three years. Maybe.
Among her budget proposals are $1.9 billion in police spending, up from $1.7 billion last year.
She
is facing some of her staunchest opposition from the Latino Caucus
within the city government. They want more of the pie for themselves.
Lightfoot's
original run for mayor target city council corruption and "shady
backroom deals." One of the aspects of the new budget will be a $5
million micro-grant fund. Each of the 50 city aldermen will oversee a
$100,000 micro-grant fund in their districts. I don't see any
possibility for abuse there, do you?
The
city's pension hole continues to get bigger. City pension fund
required spending will go from $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion. The mayor
is working on a casino project which will with a bit of luck fund much
of the city's pension fund shortfall.
The
mayor asserts that he new budget will create 40,000 new jobs, clean up
thousands of vacant lots, plant 75,000 trees and be wonderful and
marvelous in general. It also has $3.4 million for an elected police
oversight board.
1 comment:
I visited Chicago once. I'm glad that's over.
Post a Comment