City Faces $400 Million Budget Shortfall

By Tim State in News on Jul 27, 2008 5:30PM

Daley’s preliminary budget is expected to include a $400 million budget shortfall, the largest in recent history, and some are speculating it will lead to layoffs. One union leader said the City’s Chief Financial Officer Paul Volpe and Intergovernment Affairs Director John Dunn have tried to prepare him for the worst.

The mayor has already promised to hold the line on property taxes after last year’s record increases. On Friday, he told the Sun-Times:

Food prices go up. Gas prices go up. And expenses go up. The dollar is losing value continually. We are in a serious financial crisis in America. I keep saying that. People look at it and, maybe, dismiss it. But, I think we're in a much more serious financial crisis than people . . . believe. It's gonna have a long effect on this economy.

Last year’s tax increase was expected to carry the city through to 2011, but that was before the housing bubble burst. [S-T]

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