Results tagged “spending”

A city commission recommended Chicago's Loop area receive $15.5 billion for building developments and transportation improvements by 2020, Chi-Town Daily News reports. Area residents protest, saying such a plan would negatively affect residents' "quality of life" by increasing the population and straining resources in the area, including parking. One resident who spoke against the plan at the Saturday afternoon meeting said that besides changing the character of the South Loop, the money designated for the plan would be better spent on lower-income areas in the city.

It's well-known around town that the CTA needs money something fierce and is looking everywhere to find some money. It won't come from a second fare hike this year, as last week the CTA said they wouldn't be doing that. $1.4 billion is due from the federal government later this year but the CTA itself says it needs $7 billion to get itself fully up to speed (which we're sure all that Olympic cash would totally fix, right?). CTA President Richard Rodriguez has even said he's going to put an end to the free company cars that nearly 70 CTA employees take advantage of, including himself, as a means to cut spending. But where does all this money go? How much does it cost to run the CTA? The Sun-Times offers up this pretty nifty interactive graphic which shows you how costs break down for the agency. [h/t Windy Citizen]

After a lot of hootin' and hollerin', it's finally done: we have a state budget. And one without an income tax hike. But with the state facing somewhere in the neighborhood of a $9 billion budget gap, how will the state actually manage to make ends meet? In a word: borrowing. The $26 billion spending plan depends on borrowing $3.5 billion to pay state worker pensions and around $3.2 billion in bills is pushed off to next year's budget, but the move means that most of the state services that were on the brink of getting cut will now remain. For now, anyway, as Gov. Quinn has the option to cut any additional money as he sees fit. Still, Quinn said the budget still puts the state between $4 billion and $5 billion down.

Well, this perks us up on a Humpday. In spite of threats to the contrary throughout the first half of the year, the CTA announced today there will be no service cuts or fare hikes through the end of the year to help the agency close its budget gap. Good news for riders, indeed. Of course, there's still the issue of how exactly do they close that gap, the $190 million in funding cuts the CTA has undergone already this year, and what exactly will happen next year. But it is a bit of small relief to, for once, not have the Budget Doomsday card played. Um, right? [WBBM]

While he won't reveal any details until a budget address on March 18, it seems Governor Quinn is looking to spend a lot of money in the coming year: $25 billion, to be precise. Quinn wants to spend the money, according to the Trib, on "a statewide construction program to improve schools, roads and bridges and create jobs." Said Quinn, “We hope to have a $25 billion… Illinois economic recovery investment program that invests in rail as well as highway and bridges and water and everything else. I think it’s imperative… but we have to get it passed. I’d like to see it passed by April 3, and we’re going to work very hard in that direction.”