Aldermen Want to Collect $749 Million in Unpaid Bills

Photo by crowbert

A group of Chicago aldermen have proposed a way for the city to close the budget gap and avoid having to reduce certain city services -- go after the vendors that owe the city approximately $749 million.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the massive amount on the city's accounts receivable books is made up of things such as suburbs and hospitals unable to pay their water bills (and who will likely soon be further behind); banks (paging Occupy Chicago!) that have not paid fees and fines related to foreclosures; late property tax bills; and unpaid parking violation fines, some of which individuals have racked up into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The proposal comes as aldermen are scrambling to eliminate cuts to services such as 911 dispatching, graffiti removal, public health centers, and city libraries. Ald. John Arena (45th) conceded that the city was not likely to collect on all that debt, but asked, "How do you get $700 million behind?"

A statement from city budget officials explained how -- despite its claim that Chicago collections efforts are "going after the deadbeats as best they can," the city is only expected to "bring in nearly $33 million" of what it's owed in 2012. The bright side? That amount is almost twice as much as what it expects to collect by the end of this year.

Mayoral lapdog City Council floor leader Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) said that the numbers were about as good as can be expected, adding, "It might not be the best budget practice to just inflate those figures because we want to cut somewhere else."