City Council is still in the midst of budget negotiations. In this month’s City Council meeting, Ald. Vasquez introduced several amendments to the budget, and we passed legislation improving the disabled parking permit process!
Budget Updates
At the December 10th City Council meeting, Ald. Andre Vasquez introduced amendments to this year’s budget management ordinance calling for an independent audit of CPD, regular hearings on police misconduct settlement trends, and a host of budget transparency reforms.
“When we are dealing with this level of financial crisis, we have to look at our largest line items first,” Ald. Vasquez said. “The Chicago Police Department represents over half of our corporate fund dollars. An independent forensic audit of CPD will ensure we’re doing our job of oversight by making sure those funds are being spent effectively and efficiently.”
Also included in the amendment is a requirement for bi-monthly hearings on police misconduct trends and settlements. “Spending on police misconduct settlements has ballooned in the past five years,” said Vasquez. “When Chicagoans have their civil rights violated, they deserve to be compensated. But we would not be doing our job as elected officials if we don’t regularly and proactively examine trends in police misconduct, and ask questions of CPD about how they are addressing these issues in real time.”
The budget reform package also includes increased transparency requirements for the data and information City Council members receive in quarterly, mid-year, and annual budget reports, so City Council is better equipped to perform its function of budget oversight, so City Council members are better equipped to understand budget proposals and propose alternative solutions. These reforms include:
- Earlier and more robust mid-year budget reporting, Understanding these details earlier in the year will help equip us to more effectively understand budget proposals, and propose alternative solutions where necessary.
- Workforce analyses and information, including vacancy and overtime data, so we can see where the City is consistently overspending on job positions it is unable to fill;
- Data on bond and letter of credit usage and amortization, so we can understand how our funds are being paid for, and how effectively those funds are being used.
- Information on revenue modeling and reconciliation between actual revenue collection and expenditures with projections, as well as data on any current fines, fees, and levies, and data, methodologies, and legal reasoning for any new revenue sources, so we can understand the reasoning behind proposed revenue estimates;
- Detailed departmental budgets, including any proposed changes in programmatic operations and costs, revenue estimates by source for upcoming year, Finance General and reimbursement requests, and grant allocation costs, so we can understand in more depth how departmental funds are being spent;
- Data on Finance General line item spending, so we can better understand where departmental spending (e.g. pension and benefit costs) may not be accurately reflected in departmental budgets;
- Reporting on unused funds, broken down by line item, so we can understand where funds are directed if they are not spent as originally appropriated;
- Fiscal impact reports of any new legislation passed by council in the prior year;
- Dataset improvements so City Council, the public, and independent watchdog agencies can engage in independent budget analysis;
- Programmatic Metrics used to analyze success of every City program, so we can better understand the effectiveness of programs that are funded by our funds;
- Special event cost-benefit analyses, so we can better understand the modeling behind revenue projections, and assess whether the benefits are worth the cost;
- Call for CBGO Hearing empowering COFA to conduct independent analysis, so they are better equipped to analyze the budget on our behalf.
“In the past two years, we’ve seen what happens when City Council members aren’t fully equipped with the information we need to thoroughly examine and interrogate the City budget, and propose alternative solutions where necessary,” said Ald. Vasquez. “We have been elected by the people of Chicago to represent their concerns when it comes to how this city spends taxpayer dollars. In order to do that, we need to make sure we have all of the information on how those funds are being spent. We owe it to the people of Chicago.”
Legislation Passed
Disabled Parking Improvements
For the past year, we have been working with our colleagues from Ald. LaSpata’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety and Ald. Ronnie Mosley’s office to draft legislation to make it easier for people to apply for and receive disabled parking permits. This month, we are proud to say this legislation, O2025-0019980, was passed by the full City Council!
For years, we’ve heard from neighbors about how difficult it is to apply for disabled parking permits, with people waiting months and years to receive their permits—and many who don’t receive them at all, for reasons that have nothing to do with their need for accessible parking.
With this ordinance, we have removed the most common barriers that prevent people from receiving their disabled parking permits. We are proud to make Chicago more accessible for our disabled neighbors, and we hope this will pave the way for even more improvements in the future as we work together to create a more accessible city.
On that note: we are also working with the Department of Finance and other city agencies to streamline the application process, including developing an online application portal. We look forward to sharing more on that in months to come!