Forrest Claypool's 2012 CTA Budget closes a $277 million deficit without fare hikes or service cuts. The problem? It's built on work rule changes that labor unions probably won't stomach. more ›

CTA will use the money to upgrade its bus fleet, renovate the Wilson Red Line “El” stop and fund a study to improve lakefront bus service. more ›

The police department accounts for about one-third of the city’s corporate budget. But cuts have long been politically thorny in a city struggling with street violence. more ›

The report recommends halving the City Council, cutting fire department staff and privatizing Midway Airport. more ›

Gov. Quinn threatened to withhold monthly payments to Chicago and other cities and towns in Illinois if legislators do not allow him to borrow billions for the state. The Chicago Tribune got ahold of a confidential memo from the governor's office that outlined a proposal the governor hopes would put pressure on lawmakers via town mayors. The monthly payments are cities' share of state income taxes, which add up to more than $1 billion a year. Chicago gets about $220 million. more ›

Chicago isn’t exactly known for its pristine, healthy air, given our smoggy history and one of the nation's highest asthma rates. But air pollution issues have soared to unusual prominence of late with highly visible battles around the coal plants in the City, concerns about pollution wafting over from just outside of town, and even some of the local commuter trains. Those issues don’t seem to have dented the consciousness of much of Illinois’ Congressional delegation in DC, where the local battles pale in comparison to open warfare on the Environmental Protection Agency and pollution laws. more ›

In the on-going saga of Chicago’s best kept secret - a shadow budget kept on a second set of books - the Chicago News Cooperative’s Mick Dumke takes a look at how Tax Increment Financing, once a behind-the-scenes function of the city’s development funds, has begun to appear front and center in both city wards and in the mayor’s race. more ›

The Illinois House returns to work tomorrow and, with time ticking down on the current veto session, it looks like House Democrats are going to need some votes if they want to pass that proposed income tax hike hammered out with Gov. Quinn. Spring Valley Rep. Frank Mautino, House Speaker Michael Madigan's budget expert, told the Sun-Times, "I don't see there are enough votes." more ›

We already know that Illinois is a deadbeat state, like Cousin Eddie in the "Vacation" movies. Springfield has been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul for years. Now, in order to square what the state owes to schools, social work agencies and health care agencies that are owed payments, Gov. Quinn is floating the idea of borrowing up to $15 billion more. more ›

Yesterday we posted about a Sun-Times expose that looked at who in city, county and state government has a security detail, and the cost to taxpayers. The story listed the four city officials currently receiving bodyguard details as Mayor Daley, 14th Ward Alderman Edward Burke, City Treasurer Stephanie Neely, and a fourth official the Police Department refused to disclose. Today, the Sun-Times identified the fourth official. more ›

Any discussion of Richard M. Daley's legacy in the years after he leaves office had better include the parking meter lease deal. Like a cold sore, it's the gift that keeps on giving. While the city is left with a pittance of the $1.15 billion lump payment it received in exchange for a 75-year lease handed to Chicago Parking Meters LLC, parking rates are going to see another increase on Jan. 1. more ›

The city faces a steep $650 million budget (which could reach $700 million by the time it's all said and done, according to Ald. Scott Waguespack) as it also faces a new mayor next year. The 2011 budget will be the parting gift that Mayor Daley leaves the new mayor, as well as a stack of any number of challenges. And if the Sun-Times Fran Speilman is to be believed, by "gift," we mean "pile of poop in a box." Rather than raise taxes or fees or make cuts to the city's budget, Mayor Daley will likely instead do what he's been doing: further depleting a series of "rainy day" funds and stockpiles of money, a "band-aid," according to Speilman. more ›

With county government facing a $300 million shortfall next year, (soon-to-be-former) county board president Todd Stroger appears poised to propose an across the board 10 percent cut. “The administration is still working hard on the budget,” county spokesman James Ramos told the Tribune, explaining that the county CFO Jaye Williams had no comment on next year's budget. “It is premature to make any statements.” Finance Committee Chair John Daley (who is also the mayor's brother) said that he believes the budget shortfall for the county could be even worse than anticipated next year, and supports the 10 percent cuts. more ›

Already severely understaffed and reeling from the deaths of three police officers in a two month span, the City of Chicago has promised more police officers but a look at the numbers show it's just a drop in the bucket. A two-year "slowdown" on hiring new police officers has left the department down by 2,300 officers and yet City Hall's big promise? 100 new officers. It's an attempt to do some kind of boosting of numbers and morale after two years of trying to save money on hirings (even as more money was spent on new SUVs). Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said, "The manpower situation in the Chicago Police Department is bad. Guys are out there every day telling us they have to wait for backup. And we're advising them to wait for backup for their own safety." The mayor's spokeswoman, Jacquelyn Heard, said the ball got rolling on the new hires a few weeks ago, prior to this weekend's shooting death of CPD officer Michael Bailey. more ›

State legislators are back at work in Springfield, trying to hammer out a budget that they failed to approve before they adjourned earlier this month. But state Dems are facing a May 31 deadline after which a budget will require a super-majority to pass. Which is probably why Gov. Quinn is pressing for a Friday deadline to cobble together and approve the new budget. more ›

Amid the hoopla over Carla Oglesby's alleged steering of a county contract to her PR firm, one voice has been absent in the local news: Carla Oglesby's. But no more! In an interview with ABC7 Chicago, Oglesby defended her work before the county. "I think working for President Stroger period is a political liability, how about that?" said Oglesby in defense of her work with the county. She says she sees nothing unethical about her business, CGC Communications, getting a contract worth $24,975 - $25 below the threshold of county board oversight. "You certainly can be working on a campaign or for any other client and be working for the county on a project. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and certainly nothing illegal about that," she told Ben Bradley. more ›

Oh, by the way, the state legislature adjourned over the weekend without a final state budget passed. With Gov. Quinn wanting that income tax increase and a $13 billion hole to fill, there's still work to be done, especially for Dems who have until May 31 to pass any budget. After that day, the legislature will require a super-majority (i.e., Republican support) to pass the budget. So when will the legislature reconvene? more ›

As we mentioned yesterday, Illinois is on the verge of a big financial fail and has been for quite some time. Today, Governor Pat Quinn’s office launched a website to show the dire straits we’re in and ask the people of Illinois for help. According to the site, almost three-quarters of current spending goes towards education, health care and human services. The site reports that because those funds are sometimes tied to federal matching funds, cuts could mean more lost revenues. more ›

• A jury sentenced Andre Crawford to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty.
• Strange happenings in Austin where a Chicago-bound flight was delayed by a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax.
• The RTA approved the CTA's 2010 budget, cuts and all, which totals close to $1.3 billion.

Anticipating the settlement of a lawsuit over a sliding 911 surcharge on the telephone bills for high-capacity lines used by large businesses, Mayor Daley proposed adding $1.5 million to the city's budget on Monday. more ›

Mayor Daley's budget for 2010 has been presented and, as expected, there were no new taxes but lots of cuts. There will also be much taken from the parking meter lease fund. In fact, by this time next year, don't expect much to be left from the $1.15 billion/75-year deal, the deal we may have gotten hosed on. Having already spent $400 million of that money this year, according to the Tribune, Daley is looking to spend an additional $600 million of that money in 2010. We're no math geniuses and even we know that doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot left in the pot for the remaining 70+ years of the lease, something that concerned Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) earlier this week. All told, Daley claims that there will still be around $700 million left in reserve funds - the combination of the Skyway and parking meter leases - next year. A cut in the city's tourism budget also raised eyebrows. And besides the cuts to entertainment and furlough days for non-union employees and elimination of vacant jobs, there are smaller cuts, too, such as the scaling back of the city's recycling program. more ›

Around 137,000 college students in Illinois got a hand from state lawmakers who yesterday voted to reinstate the Monetary Award Program which will give $205 million to college students around the state. One issue: no one's sure where the money will come from. State lawmakers say it's up to Gov. Quinn to find room in the budget for the cash, who previously suggested raising cigarette taxes to fund the program. [WBEZ] more ›

Governor Quinn and Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees met this week over ways that the state and the largest union representing state employees could work out ways to save Illinois money. But neither party had much to say about the conversation. Quinn termed the meeting "constructive", and said that his office will meet with members of the union's bargaining committee to discuss avoiding potential layoffs or furlough days. more ›

With the state feeling the financial crunch and reeling from that recent budget dust-up, we knew lots of folks we're going to suffer repercussions. One of the latest groups to feel the sting is a group of the state's college students who were denied financial aid. Why? Because they applied after the state's May 15 deadline, a deadline which, in the past, had been set much later. Then there's this, according to the Sun-Times: more ›

Following up on our earlier post about the budget crisis facing the state, Gov. Pat Quinn today announced he was vetoing part of the budget that had be presented him by the state assembly. The part Quinn vetoed dealt with social services, calling the fight to hold out for more funding via his budget and tax increases was a "fight worth fighting for." Per the Tribune: more ›

That's right, Illinois, it's an exciting day as the new Fiscal Year has begun and- what? There's no budget but rather a huge budget hole? Between $7 billion and $9 billion? Shit. Didn't we just boot a corrupt as all Hell governor so that the state government could right this sinking ship? Well...crap. more ›

At the end of this year, Chicago could be short 800 cops compared to last year the police union told the Sun-Times. The shortage is attributed to vacancies, attrition rates, and Mayor Daley’s 2009 budget which has significantly slowed down hiring. Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis told the Sun-Times last week that the CPD hopes to use federal grant money to hire 150 new officers this year. In the short term Weis will manage the officer shortage by shifting officers from desk jobs, or pay officers overtime with federal grants to cover the streets this summer. more ›

As expected, the Regional Transportation Authority board agreed this week to slash public funding for Chicago-area transit services by $67 million over the next six months. The nine board members in attendance voted unanimously for the cuts, in the hopes that they will bring the transit agencies' growing budget deficits in line with lower tax revenues. more ›

The Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program will have to cut more than half of its services if an income tax increase does not occur, reports Chi-Town Daily News. The state and federally funded program gives free breast screenings and mammograms for women over 40, cervical exams for women over 35 and cancer treatment to eligible women. With expected budget cuts, the program stands to lose $9 million. More than 36,000 uninsured women in Illinois, a third of which are from Chicago, benefit from the program; more than 21,000 would no longer receive services. more ›

As time runs out for a new state budget, Governor Quinn is mulling over the possibility of calling a special session to hash it out. Quinn expressed a desire to have a new budget done in the next 10 days. He told WBEZ, "I plan to get together next week with the legislators, we'll talk tomorrow about how the mechanism is, but I think they understand they may have gone home for the summer-- summer vacation -- but their work isn't done." Yesterday, Quinn said up to 10,000 state workers could lose their jobs if the budget wasn't fixed from its current state. more ›