The ordinance behind Monday's special Council meeting would send the $75 million parking meter payment to four pension funds by Dec. 31

The text, now posted by the City Clerk, splits the money by each fund's share of this year's required contributions and bars using it for payments the City already owes or had planned to make.

By Chicago PoliticsUpdated Oct 29, 2026

The City Clerk has posted the agenda and the full ordinance for Monday's special City Council meeting, and the text spells out exactly where the $75 million from the parking meter sale would go: all of it to the City's four pension funds, paid by Dec. 31, 2026, on top of everything the City already owes or planned to pay them this year.

Why it matters: Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposed 2027 budget counts the same money toward next year's planned advance pension payment, as we reported Wednesday. If this ordinance passes as written, that $75 million can't be used to fill the 2027 plan, and the budget would need to find it somewhere else.

What the Clerk posted

The meeting notice is a letter to Clerk Anna Valencia, stamped received at 12:23 p.m. on Oct. 27 and signed by Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) and Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd). It calls the Council to meet at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, "for the following purpose and for no other purpose whatsoever": to consider an ordinance allocating the parking meter "Concession Payments" among the City's pension funds.

The agenda has one item of business after public comment: ordinance O2026-0029681.

What the ordinance would do

The $75 million. The City Comptroller would have to pay the full transfer fee to the four funds (municipal employees, police, fire and laborers) no later than Dec. 31, 2026. Each fund's share would match its share of the City's total required 2026 contribution under state law. Interest earned before the payment would be split the same way.

What it can't be used for. The ordinance bars using the money, or interest on it, to pay any part of the contributions state law already requires for 2026, to pay back the City for those payments, or to cover any other payment the City owes the funds. It separately bars using it for the "supplemental" advance payments the City budgets each year under its pension policy, which has been in place since the 2023 budget. That second provision is the core of the dispute: the Mayor's budget would apply the money against the planned 2027 supplemental payment.

Future payments, every year. The ordinance also adds a new section, 2-32-385, to the Municipal Code. Under the deal the Council approved in September, the meter company pays the City 2% of the price whenever it is sold again and 5% of its yearly net income. By April 1 each year, the Comptroller would send the previous year's payments to the four funds by the same formula, again on top of required and supplemental contributions.

What our records add

The vote that created the money. The Council approved the sale of Chicago Parking Meters LLC to Stonepeak Partners in SO2026-0025407, 46 to 3, on Sept. 29. That ordinance says the $75 million, future transfer fees and the City's profit share are to fund City pension contributions "as further specified by the City Council." Monday's ordinance cites that clause, Section 2.3, as its authority.

Where it sits. Our copy of the Clerk's record lists O2026-0029681 as submitted Oct. 27 by Dowell, introduced directly and assigned to the Committee on Finance, which she chairs. Whether it comes to a vote Monday depends on how the Council handles it on the floor; the call itself asks the Council "to immediately consider" it.

The 34-vote question. The Mayor's veto of the 30-vote borrowing rule held last month when an override fell one vote short, 33 to 17, the Sun-Times reported. Any veto of this ordinance would face the same 34-vote bar. All three members who called the meeting voted for that borrowing rule when it passed 32 to 15.

How each ward voted

32 yea, 15 nay, 3 not voting · Sep 29, 2026 · Passed

Yea Nay Not voting

O2026-0026270: the roll call, the timeline and the documents

What the finance chief said. At the Oct. 26 budget hearing, Chief Financial Officer Ashlee Gabrysch told Dowell that under the amended agreement it is the Council's call how and when the money reaches the funds (watch at 4:16:10).

What's next

Through 8 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1: the Clerk's window to sign up for remote public comment, by phone at (312) 744-6800, according to our meetings page.
Monday, Nov. 2, 10 a.m.: the special meeting, in the Council Chamber at City Hall.
Nov. 4 to Nov. 10: department budget hearings resume after the election-week break.
Dec. 31: the ordinance's deadline to pay the funds, and the City's deadline to pass a 2027 budget.

Sources: Chicago Politics: O2026-0026270, 30 votes to borrow; Chicago Sun-Times: Special Council meeting could blow $75 million hole in Mayor Johnson's budget.