Mayor opts for bare-bones capital plan
Singularly focused on the war against the coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has opted for a $100 million, bare-bones capital plan — bankrolled by an existing line of credit — to pay for new vehicles, sidewalks and the treasured aldermanic menu program.
Normally, the city issues general obligation bonds backed by property taxes to cover a more sweeping capital program. But these are not normal times.
The Lightfoot administration is preoccupied with the city’s response to the coronavirus and the budget crisis triggered by the stay-at-home shutdown of the Chicago economy.
So the decision was made to proceed only with those capital projects and purchases that absolutely needed to get done and to finance it with a line of credit that remained, even after Lightfoot saved $22 million by eliminating a $1.4 billion line of credit negotiated by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The bare-bones capital plan is on the agenda for Monday’s Finance Committee meeting.
It includes: $83 million for the aldermanic menu program; $3 million for the shared sidewalk program; and $13.8 million to replace aging police cars and other city vehicles.
“We were taking applications for the shared sidewalks in January. So those commitments have already been made. We’ve got to get the snowplows ordered. We’ve got to get these police cars traded out. These are standard things that have to happen. And they can’t wait,” said Kristen Cabanban, a spokesperson for the city’s Office of Budget and Management.
And what is so urgent about the aldermanic menu program other than the fact that it’s a sacred cow politically?
“They do things like repair streets. They do a lot of infrastructure improvements too. Those things are important to residents as well,” Cabanban said.
A larger and more traditional general obligation bond issue is still a possibility later this year, Cabanban said. But, she quickly added, “We will need to go back and have that discussion at a different time. Right now, our priority is responding to COVID.”