# Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Revenue meeting, June 26, 2024

- When: Wed, Jun 26, 2024, 12:00 PM (Chicago time)
- Where: City Council Chamber, 2nd Floor, City Hall, 121 North LaSalle Street - Chicago, IL 60602
- Status: Scheduled & Published
- Committee: [Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Revenue](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/committee/finance-subcommittee-on-revenue)
- Video: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/956661277
- Transcript: [full text](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/transcripts/956661277.txt) (23,386 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 Subcommittee on Revenue of the Committee on Finance held its first meeting, a subject-matter hearing with no votes on where the city's revenue comes from, fiscal adjustments and possible new revenue. Public commenters included business and hospitality groups urging spending cuts before new taxes and suggesting video gaming revenue, an environmental group opposing digital advertising along the river and in parks, and residents raising housing, disability and neighborhood concerns. The budget director and comptroller presented the city's fund structure, the volatility of local revenue, the expiration of pandemic grant funds, the use of property taxes for pensions and debt, and the city's process for reviewing revenue proposals. Members asked about the state income tax share, grants, the grocery tax, CPS pension payments, a services sales tax, taxes on high earners and corporations, zero-based budgeting, audits and inspector general recommendations; the meeting ended without action.

Topics: city revenue, budget deficit, state income tax sharing, grants, sales tax on services, grocery tax, zero-based budgeting, CPS pension payments, progressive taxation, video gaming

### Agenda items discussed

- [20:58](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=1258) Subject matter hearing on city revenue sources, fiscal adjustments and new revenue options: discussed

### Alderpersons who spoke

- [William E. Hall](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/6) (chair): Opened the subcommittee's first revenue hearing to discuss where city revenue comes from, fiscal adjustments and pathways for new revenue, with no votes. ([21:00](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=1260)); Said the subcommittee's goal is to run member revenue ideas through the administration's tests of authority, efficiency, equity, simplicity and transparency. ([1:40:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6009))
- [William Conway](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/34) (alderperson): Asked whether the decline in the city's share of state income tax also applied to sales tax distributions. ([1:13:56](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=4436))
- [Daniel La Spata](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/1) (alderperson): Welcomed starting revenue discussions early and asked why total revenue dropped from 2022 to 2023 and then partly recovered, and about growth in enterprise funds. ([1:15:15](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=4515)); Asked about the retailer's two-cent share of the checkout bag tax and called it a transitional concession worth discussing. ([1:18:37](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=4717)); Asked whether any city taxes have a graduated structure. ([1:20:36](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=4836))
- [Pat Dowell](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/3) (alderperson): Asked for a breakdown of federal and state grants and how the city pursues grants, noting concerns that past administrations left grant dollars unclaimed. ([1:57:50](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=7070))
- [Walter R. Burnett](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/27) (alderperson): Asked where neighborhood opportunity bonus and industrial fees and TIF surplus appear in the revenue picture. ([1:32:25](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5545))
- [Michael D. Rodriguez](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/22) (alderperson): Said the budget should not be balanced on the backs of frontline city workers and called for creative revenue before a scarcity approach. ([1:35:17](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5717)); Proposed automated enforcement against trucks on no-truck streets as a small revenue and infrastructure measure. ([1:37:37](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5857)); Said restoring the city's share of state income tax could bring significant revenue and called for a collective Springfield strategy. ([1:38:41](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5921))
- [Brendan Reilly](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/42) (alderperson): Said balancing budgets should start with efficiencies and cuts and repeated his call for zero-based budgeting of personnel and spending. ([1:41:07](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6067)); Supported restoring the city's 10 percent share of state income tax but said the city needs more credibility in Springfield. ([1:43:27](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6207)); Asked the mayor to consider a subcommittee on cuts and efficiencies or zero-based budgeting. ([1:45:07](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6307))
- [David H. Moore](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/17) (alderperson): Asked whether the city has set a target dollar amount it needs to raise over the next several years before choosing revenue options. ([1:50:48](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6648)); Mentioned keeping the grocery tax, taxing informal video gaming and property taxes as revenue considerations. ([1:53:40](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6820))
- [Byron Sigcho-López](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/25) (alderperson): Called for a united Springfield plan and said budgets should not be balanced on working families through property taxes. ([2:05:30](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=7530)); Asked about a proposed carbon tax on large airlines. ([2:07:34](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=7654)); Asked about taxing banks and securities speculation, citing record bank and insurance profits. ([2:09:57](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=7797))
- [Andre Vasquez Jr.](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/40) (alderperson): Asked for an assessment of which industries and services generate revenue in relation to a sales tax on services. ([2:18:55](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=8335)); Asked for a list of government roles that generate revenue and raised income-based fines and expanded speed cameras. ([2:24:02](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=8642)); Asked the administration to share its own revenue ideas so the two efforts are not separate. ([2:27:35](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=8855))
- [Matthew J. Martin](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/ward/47) (alderperson): Asked for an update and timeline on point-of-sale fee improvements flagged by the inspector general. ([2:33:13](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=9193)); Asked about improving tracking of construction and demolition debris recycling fees. ([2:35:43](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=9343)); Asked how general obligation bonds fund the aldermanic menu program and requested issuance data since 2020. ([2:36:25](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=9385))

### Exchanges between members

- [1:35:03](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5703) Rodriguez congratulated Hall on organizing the hearing.
- [1:38:34](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5914) Rodriguez said Dowell had made a strong point about long-term revenue strategy.
- [1:39:39](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=5979) Rodriguez asked Hall about the subcommittee's plans for further engagement before budget votes.
- [1:40:09](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6009) Hall answered Rodriguez by describing how member ideas would be evaluated.
- [1:49:44](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6584) Reilly objected to fiscal responsibility being characterized as a Republican approach.
- [1:50:54](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=6654) Moore said he seconded Reilly's comments.
- [2:29:17](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1?t=8957) Vasquez said he agreed with Reilly about discussing efficiencies.

## Documents

- [Notice](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/clerk/meetingattachmentspublic/543f7346-f246-4be6-9211-c63275091afc.pdf)
- [Notice](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/clerk/meetingattachmentspublic/90deae23-9f0c-49bb-aae0-4930ff3fca2e.pdf)
- [Agenda](https://www.chicagopolitics.org/files/clerk/meetingattachmentspublic/368a0189-21a6-4902-8888-b30fb0c9b23d.pdf)

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Source: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/meeting/C6EB399F-072F-EF11-840A-001DD806F0F1 · Chicago Politics, an independent, nonpartisan tracker of the Chicago City Council. Guide for agents: https://www.chicagopolitics.org/llms.txt