Committee on Finance meeting, December 10, 2024
- When: Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 9:00 AM (Chicago time)
- Where: City Council Chamber, 2nd Floor, City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street - Chicago, IL 60602
- Status: Scheduled & Published
- Committee: Committee on Finance
- Video: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1037595158
- Transcript: full text (6,715 words, official captions)
Meeting notes
AI-written from the transcript. Speakers are inferred from cues in the recording, so treat names as estimates and check the video at the linked time.
The Committee on Finance met to consider a substitute 2025 revenue ordinance amending Municipal Code titles 3, 4, 9 and 10 and authorizing the city's 2025 property tax levy. After public comment from six speakers, including two labor representatives who supported the budget, the committee voted by roll call to accept the substitute, which includes a $68.5 million property tax increase along with changes to the parking, congestion, checkout bag, personal property lease and amusement taxes and various fines and fees. Alderpersons Beale, Lopez and Reilly questioned the procedure of placing a new levy in a substitute ordinance, the level of cuts and efficiencies, and the tax increases, and stated their opposition. The committee then voted by roll call and the chair announced that the substitute ordinance carried and would be reported out with a do-pass recommendation.
Topics: 2025 revenue ordinance, Property tax levy, Parking tax, Congestion surcharge, Checkout bag tax, Amusement tax on streaming, Fines and fees, Budget cuts and vacancies, Public comment
Agenda items discussed
- 38:37 Motion to accept substitute 2025 revenue ordinance amending Municipal Code titles 3, 4, 9 and 10 and authorizing the 2025 property tax levy: passed
- 46:45 Presentation and discussion of the 2025 revenue ordinance: discussed
- 1:08:38 Recommendation of approval of the substitute 2025 revenue ordinance: passed
Alderpersons who spoke
- Pat Dowell (chair): Introduced the single agenda item, the substitute 2025 revenue ordinance including the property tax levy, and called a roll call on accepting the substitute. (38:37); Explained that the substitute revenue ordinance covers multiple revenues and contains the new property tax levy within it. (43:51)
- Anthony Beale (alderperson): Asked what ordinance had just been substituted and whether it amended the levy that was voted down. (42:29); Questioned how a new levy could be substituted into a pending ordinance when a new levy must sit for 20 days. (43:23); Stated for the record his opposition to the procedure, saying it was used to get around the 20-day timeline for a new levy. (44:54)
- Raymond A. Lopez (alderperson): Asked for the written Corporation Counsel response on the legality of handling the property tax levy within the 20-day window, which he said he had requested. (45:43); Asked what the change is from the 2024 levy to the proposed 2025 levy and whether any adjustment was made for the 2024 deficit. (58:00); Asked why the administration put the levy in a substitute revenue ordinance rather than introducing a standalone levy after the prior one was rejected. (59:08)
- Brendan Reilly (alderperson): Asked how many funded vacancies are being carried into 2025 and their cost, and asked that the answer be stated on the record. (1:03:45); Criticized the increases to the parking garage tax, bag tax, personal property lease tax and amusement tax on streaming and cable. (1:05:30); Noted the changing size of the proposed property tax increase over the budget process and said the city has a spending problem rather than a revenue problem. (1:06:23)
Exchanges between members
- 42:29 Beale asked the chair what ordinance had just been substituted.
- 42:36 The chair answered Beale and referred his question to the Corporation Counsel.
- 45:43 Lopez raised a point of information with the chair requesting the written Corporation Counsel opinion.
- 53:52 Beale thanked the chair before asking the budget team about cuts.
- 1:03:01 The chair told Lopez his time was up.
- 1:03:06 Lopez responded that the rules give him 10 minutes.
- 1:03:41 The chair thanked Lopez and recognized Reilly.
- 1:03:49 Reilly said he wanted to follow up on Lopez's questions about vacancies.
- 1:08:34 The chair thanked Reilly after his remarks.