Oct. 14--Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday stood by his bad-news budget blueprint as opponents and supporters of specific parts of the plan congregated at City Hall to make their voices heard.
Emanuel formally introduced his package to the City Council, two weeks before a scheduled vote and nearly a month after he laid out his budget principles in a speech to the council.
While residents were lining up in council chambers at the lone City Hall hearing where they could testify on the mayor's plan, he spoke to reporters at a news conference, then departed.
The mayor defended his plan, which has drawn criticism from some aldermen angry about the proposed $543 million property tax increase and others upset with being asked to support his first-ever city garbage pickup fee of $9.50 per month. Emanuel said he hasn't made any changes to the budget because of aldermanic objections. The full body is set to vote on it Oct. 28.
"The short answer, no, but I suppose, obviously, that process continues," Emanuel said.
Though he wasn't asked about his proposed privatization of the city's nonemergency 311 call center, another idea that has drawn the ire of alderman, the mayor singled that out as a part of the budget package he continues to endorse.
"I stand by, to isolate kind of one, what we're proposing as it relates to 311 reforms, mainly because, for the first time ever, we have a lot of effectiveness in our neighborhood services," said Emanuel, who argued the 311 center is a key part of those services that the city can't afford to modernize on its own.
As he has repeatedly the past several months, Emanuel sought to spread responsibility for the ugly budget by using his 311 proposal to make the case he has been seeking input from other officials on how to fix the city's financial mess.
"Now, I've presented that. The aldermen will now have their chance to weigh in as they have in the past," he said. "So that's, like, an example of other things we've heard. But remember, that process wasn't just the last five weeks. Since the election in April we've been in open conversation with people about changes we needed to make."
The mayor's comments came after taxi drivers held a morning news conference to decry his budget plans to raise money from cabbies and the ride-share industry.
After Emanuel left council chambers, a handful of the 50 aldermen stuck around to listen to public comments on the budget. Michael Reever, vice president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, spoke out against Emanuel's plan to increase the property tax homeowner exemption, which would move more of the tax burden onto businesses.
"The Chicagoland Chamber and the business community stand ready to be a partner in our city's economic future, but we will not and cannot accept a further shift of that responsibility onto the employers who create the jobs and anchor our neighborhoods," Reever said.
Joe Healy, business manager of Laborers Union Local 1092, applauded the mayor's plan, which he said will continue to adequately fund city services like rodent abatement and tree trimming that his members provide.
North Side minister Robert Moore called for the spending package to include a "Marshall Plan for the black community" funded by $250 million from special property tax zones to be used for new schools and economic development.
Even as he insisted the cash-strapped city has the money to pay for such a project, Moore acknowledged the fact aldermen almost always pass the budget largely unchanged from what the mayor introduces.
"Yes, I know you're going to rubber-stamp this budget," he said. "I understand that."
jebyrne@tribpub.com
