Rahm Budges on Budget Cuts

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 4, 2011 9:40PM

Image Credit: Monika Thorpe

Responding to aldermen who sent him a strongly worded letter, Mayor Rahm Emanuel agreed to $10 million in changes to his proposed budget to spare cuts to library staffing, 911 dispatching, public health services and other cuts.

With the concession must come balance and Emanuel also proposed that city sticker fees will increase across the board to accommodate the loss of cuts. Whether Emanuel recognized a political hot potato or was sincere in his stated wish to form a working relationship with City Council, only he knows. Emanuel spun it as the latter.

“I said we were gonna form a new partnership between...the mayor and City Council — that the voters did not want Council Wars and they also didn’t want a City Council that would be a rubber stamp,” Emanuel told a City Hall news conference Friday.

“This speaks to that new partnership...that hears what the aldermen say, listens to their suggestions and ideas and addresses them, because there’s more than one way to get to a destination point.”

The letter sent to Emanuel Tuesday was endorsed by 28 aldermen, two more than are necessary to pass the mayor's budget. today's announcement should go a way toward securing that magical number of 26.