As they had done so many times for Mayor Richard M. Daley, aldermen stood and applauded at the end of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s first budget speech since he was elected to succeed Daley.
And the longest-serving City Council member, Ald. Edward Burke (14th Ward) predicted that a “clear majority” of aldermen would approve Emanuel’s 2012 budget proposal with little change, despite the raft of initiatives that were politically unpalatable in better economic times.
“We’re at a point now where the city’s finances are in such serious condition that the city government simply can’t do business the way it’s done business over the years,” said Burke, who endorsed an Emanuel rival in the February mayoral election but since has made peace with the new mayor.
Although the balanced budget plan relies on a long list of fee increases that would impact the pocketbooks of Chicagoans, Burke noted that the revenue-generating moves include a hotel tax hike and a surcharge for parking downtown.
“They’re not taxes that affect the homeowners,” he said. “They’re basically increases that affect commuters, and it’s an attempt, I believe, to spreading the responsibility of funding this government beyond the city limits.”
Ald. Patrick O’Connor (40th), who is Emanuel’s unofficial council floor leader, said the new mayor, unlike Daley, does not budget on the assumption the economy will improve. “It’s more apparent that we don’t have the luxury of not making some of these decisions at this point,” O’Connor said.
Aldermen will hold public hearings beginning in a week, grilling each of Emanuel’s Cabinet members before voting in December on the city’s taxing and spending plans for next year. For most of Daley’s tenure, he enjoyed lopsided and often unanimous votes in favor of his budget plans. Council members rarely sought to even amend the budget.
But opposition to some parts of the new administration’s 2012 proposal surfaced immediately.
City Clerk Susana Mendoza, whose office issues city stickers, said she was “adamantly opposed” to Emanuel’s plan to increase city sticker fees for sport-utility vehicle and truck owners. Mendoza said she will lobby aldermen to kill the fee hike, to $135 from $120, because she said it would affect “soccer moms.”
Mendoza also criticized the mayor’s process for rolling out the idea. “I just found out about this increase today, which probably isn’t the best approach to get a job done,” she said.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the downtown area, said he opposed Emanuel’s proposed increase in the city’s hotel tax. City officials said the total hotel tax would rise to 16.4 percent from 15.4 percent now, or $1.78 added to the average nightly rate for a room.
“None of these revenue options are attractive to anyone,” said Reilly, who is vice chairman of the council’s Budget Committee, which runs the budget hearings. “We want to make sure we avoid any unintended economic consequences by raising these taxes.”
Emanuel’s plan to close three police stations received a cool response from aldermen whose wards would be affected.
Ald. Will Burns (4th) said he was concerned the closing of the Prairie police station would lead to more crime in his ward.
“I’m not defending the building,” Burns said. “What I’m defending are officers who know that community, who have relationships with the community.”
Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) said he did not buy Emanuel’s claim that closing police stations would allow the police department to add more officers to the streets.
“To me, that is disingenuous,” Maldonado said. “You might have more police officers coming out of that district, but you’re going to have a much larger geography to serve.”
Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno (1st) said he believed the closure of a station in his ward was tantamount to punishment for successful efforts to keep crime down in the area on the city’s near Northwest Side.
“We’ve had a neighborhood that has had great success in the last 15 years or so and they should not be punished for that success,” he said.
But Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said he supports Emanuel’s plan to close police stations. He said a station covering his ward would see more officers as a result of the closings.
“I’m not as married to buildings as I am to services,” Burnett said.
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, both Emanuel appointees, attended the budget speech. Brizard lauded the mayor’s plan to funnel $30 million in funds from Chicago’s tax-increment financing districts to the schools. Brizard said he would use the money for improving school facilities
“It’s a great beginning,” Brizard said. “It’s a welcome addition to our war chest.”
The Chicago Teachers Union and some aldermen have called on the city to provide even more TIF dollars for schools than Emanuel proposed.