Results tagged “budgetcrunch”

Whether we’re hanging our heads at Chicago’s Olympic fail, shaking our fists at our state’s budget woes or rolling our eyes every time our former governor appears on a talk show, Illinoisans could at least take comfort in the platitude “it could be worse - we could be California.” Not so fast, says a new Pew Study. In a report titled “Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril,” Illinois is rated one of the nine states “most like California,” meaning we’re teetering on the brink of fiscal ruination.

We mentioned yesterday morning the deal struck between the RTA and the state of Illinois which would provide enough funding to prevent a fare hike at the CTA for the next two years but wouldn't prevent the $90 million in service cuts originally proposed by the CTA. At a press conference yesterday, we got some of the details of the deal. Well, "deal" is a loose term as you'll see. The move isn't so much eliminating the CTA's debt as it is slightly reducing and really prolonging it. The Tribune breaks down the deal like so:

Some officials believe building a land-based casino could provide help during Chicago's financial crisis but Mayor Daley has some reservations that must be met first.

Today Gov. Quinn called on the CTA and Metra to not raise fares in exchange for state aid. Meanwhile, with just a little over 24 hours left in the fall session, state legislators are considering a bill that would cut back on those free senior rides that Blago forced the CTA to institute. The new bill would set a threshold that only those seniors who earn below a yearly income of $22,218 would qualify for free rides. As the Trib points out, though, Quinn didn't say if he would refuse to sign this new legislation should the CTA and Metra raise fares anyway.

Blue-cart recycling is still over a year away for 359,000 homes without service under Mayor Richard Daley's proposed 2010 budget. In 2008, the city launched a switch to the blue-cart recycling program from the old blue-bag method that was supposed to be completed by 2011. Now, a little under half of Chicago's 600,000 homes with city garbage services are also part of the city's blue-cart recycling program. The city council has also talked about also delaying pickup of the carts in some households that already have the program from every other week to every third week.

The City of Chicago is short on cash and they're looking for anyway to recoup some money, even if it means encouraging citizens to do some fiscal policing for them. Mayor Daley's 2010 budget includes something called the "Tax Whistleblower Program" which sets aside cash rewards for those who turn in businesses that are known to be tax cheats. And what will your reward be if you turn in a cheating business like so many of Joey Greco's victims? Initial plans are for a certain percentage of the amount recovered but it's still being tweaked.

With the sobering news of Mayor Daley's budget apocalypse beginning to sink in, some in the city council are looking at a Chicago-based casino anew. "All one has to do is drive through those parking lots in Northwest Indiana and see all the Illinois plates,'' Alderman Edward Burke told the Sun-Times. "If those folks are gonna lose their money, they might as well lose it in Chicago." Alderman Leslie Hairston put it more succinctly: "We've got to do something to generate some revenue."

Facing a deep budget gap of its own, the CTA is making moves to earn a little cash. One way it's doing so is by re-upping a deal with soft drink maker Coca-Cola. The deal, which will net the CTA around $1.4 million over the next five years, means Coke is the exclusive provider of all drink vending machines at CTA stops. According to a press release by the CTA:

With bus services slashed under the CTA's new budget proposal, CTA bus drivers made up a large chunk of around 2,000 CTA employees who received layoff notices in the mail. The jobs will be laid out over the next two months as the transit authority prepares for a budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. [Sun-Times]

Sticking to his vow not to increase taxes to close next year's budget deficit, Mayor Daley announced on Monday a portion of his plan to save millions of dollars in city spending next year. That includes 24 furlough days for city non-union workers (that's five weeks off, the equivalent of a 10 percent pay cut), no cost of living increases and three reduced service days. “The economic recession that has plagued our nation for well over a year continues to affect most of Chicago working families,” Daley said at a City Hall news conference. “I understand that times are still tough for people and I don’t feel right asking them to pay for more city government right now,” he said.

Chicago Public Schools cut after-school tutoring for less than half of the children who applied for the service, according to Chicago Breaking News.

While we wait to see if the CTA will indeed make good on its threat to raise fares and cut services in an attempt to close a budget gap numbering in the hundreds of millions of dollars, at least one high-ranking government official is ready to do his part. With the RTA already supporting such a measure, Gov. Pat Quinn is also giving some thought to repealing the free CTA rides for senior programs infamously instituted by then-governor Rod Blagojevich. Speaking to WGN Radio today, Quinn supported the idea of reviewing program and possibly altering it to offer free rides to veterans, active military, and seniors whose income falls below a certain threshold. Said Quinn:

As regular as the first frost of the season, so, too, does the oncoming winter also bring another tradition of recent years: a proposed fare hike from the CTA. Say what you will, at least it's not another Doomsday Prophecy. The CTA is still trying to close that pesky budget gap that may go as high as $300 million and they've outlined a new list of proposed fare hikes in a plan that was printed as an ad in today's Chicago Tribune. In addition to the fare hikes, the CTA is also proposing for a cut in service, mainly in the form of cutting back hours and nixing a few express bus routes.

In his first local press conference since Chicago lost its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Mayor Richard Daley declared that he would pay no political price for the loss, "none whatsoever." “You wrote my obituary, didn’t you? Some of you have, I guess,” the mayor told the press. “I don’t know why you already put me in the grave,” he said. “I know you’re all planning on it, don’t worry,” he said, after asking that we at least run a nice picture of him.

In an ongoing effort to control costs and contain the city budget, the Chicago Public Library system is working on a plan to reduce hours at 76 branches this winter. The cuts will reduce the hours that libraries are open, Monday through Thursday, but will not impact the three main libraries: the Harold Washington library downtown, Sulzer on the North Side, and Woodson on the South SideMost branches are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.. Under the new plan, which is still being worked out, branches would open no earlier than 10 a.m. and close no later than 8 p.m.; hours would be staggered amongst branches.