Year after raising aldermanic expense allowance, Lightfoot takes back 26% increase
The mayor giveth. The mayor taketh away. One year after raising the annual aldermanic expense allowance to $ 122,000 to build support for her first budget, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is snatching back that 26% increase, forcing aldermen to share the pain in her pandemic budget.
Instead of budgeting $ 6.1 million for the annual aldermanic expense allowance, the city will spend $ 4.85 million. That’s where it had been frozen for years before last year’s increase.
The $ 1.25 million cut will help reduce the overall budget for the 50- member City Council to $ 21.3 million — though there is no reduction in the number of City Council committees.
In fact, a new Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will replace the disbanding Special Legislative Committee on the Census, keeping the number of committees at 19. That’s three more than under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, even though Lightfoot’s transition report recommended a reduction.
Committee budgets would be frozen with one exception: a 26.6% increase, to $ 213,800, for the Committee on Public Safety. Chairman Chris Taliaferro ( 29th) recently changed his mind and sided with the mayor in the political battle over how much power to grant a civilian police review board.
To help wipe out a $ 1.2 billion shortfall caused primarily by the coronavirus, taxpayers are being asked to absorb a $ 94 million property tax increase followed by annual increases tied to inflation.
The mayor’s budget also raises taxes on gasoline, computer leases and cloud services. It includes furlough days for non- union employees, 350 layoffs for unionized employees and a $ 1.7 billion debt restructuring and refinancing with nearly $ 949 million of the savings claimed in the first two years.
When that much sacrifice is demanded of their constituents and city employees, most aldermen dare not complain about a $ 25,000 haircut.
“I’m OK with it. Everyone needs to contribute to savings in this budget,” Ethics and Good Governance Committee Chairman Michele Smith ( 43rd) told the Sun- Times in a text message.
“Prudent. More sacrifices needed,” Zoning Committee Chairman Tom Tunney
( 44th) said.
“In difficult times, elected officials need to lead by example,” said Aviation Committee Chairman Matt O’Shea ( 19th).
Rookie Ald. Andre Vasquez ( 40th), who defended the increase a year ago, “absolutely understands” the need to scour the budget.
But Vasquez suggested “finding those efficiencies in the committee staff might have less impact than making cuts that could lead to reductions in ward office staff, which neighbors will feel more directly.”
The closest thing to criticism came from Ald. Jason Ervin ( 28th) chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus.
“It is a tough one. Many of my colleagues will have to lay off staff,” Ervin wrote in a text message.
Aldermen who have accepted annual costof- living increases receive an annual salary of $ 122,304.
The $ 122,000 expense allowance is supposed to be used to rent ward offices, lease vehicles, pay utility bills and hire part- time staffers. But over the years, aldermen have come under fire for using it to hire relatives, lease luxury vehicles and hire media consultants.
When indicted Ald. Edward Burke ( 14th) was still chairing the City Council’s Finance Committee, clout- heavy aldermen also could hire additional staffers using money from a $ 1.3 million pool administered by Burke.
Last year, aldermen criticized Lightfoot for increasing spending for the mayor’s office by 40% — to $ 13.1 million and 109 employees.
The mayor ultimately agreed to shave $ 1.3 million by eliminating 11 new staffers. But aldermen nevertheless used the opportunity to seek an increase for themselves.
They started by demanding an additional $ 50,000- apiece — $ 2.5 million total. Lightfoot ultimately split the difference.