Statement on City Budget Priorities

ONE Northside and ONE People’s Campaign sent the following letter to our North Side alderpeople on December 9, 2024:

As City Council and the Mayor’s office engage in negotiations around the budget, ONE Northside would like to share with you our priorities and reactions to the FY2025 budget.

Progressive Revenue

With our partners at the Progressive Unity Platform, we support three progressive revenue proposals to help the city fund critical services and programs, without raising property taxes. These proposals are:

• Implement a PILOT (Payment in lieu of Taxes) initiative. This would generate much-needed revenue from wealthy private schools, such as DePaul and UChicago, and non-profit hospitals that benefit from our city’s infrastructure while not paying into the city budget that funds it. This could generate over $200 million annually. 
• The immediate reinstatement of the Corporate Head Tax. Our coalition estimates this would generate $106 million per year if set at $33 per employee. This tax was eliminated by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and we support reinstating this tax to ensure that large corporations pay their fair share for using the city’s public infrastructure.
• Implement an Empty Homes Tax. The Empty Homes Tax would levy a tax of $2,000 to $5,000 annually per vacant unit, increasing each year a unit is vacant. This would disincentivize banks and landlords from holding onto vacant property and address the affordable housing crisis while raising revenue. This could raise $25 million annually, though it depends on what tax rates are set. 
• Tax Increment Finance Surplus. We support the Mayor’s proposal to declare and release $570 million in TIF surplus funds. 

Public Safety

We call on you to support the the Public Health & Safety Budget Amendment that shifts the $170m of budgeted CPD vacancies that have never been filled, and allocate that funding in the following ways:

• Funds the expansion of youth Peacekeepers & support the Peacebook working group that will result in an investment of $22m, creating +350 youth jobs and will fund 22 grassroots orgs to further engage in peacebuilding within our communities
• Funds CDPH, Treatment Not Trauma & the CARE crisis-response teams through an increase of $26m of corporate funding
• Reallocates the $2m of civilian positions within the Office of Constitutional Policing back into the budget
• Reallocates the $2m of consent decree funding back into the budget
• Shifts $118m to helping close the budget gap to avoid further taxation on our working class neighbors

We are relieved to see that the Mayor has reversed his initial proposed cuts to the Office of Constitutional Policing. Nonetheless, we must reiterate our position that it is imperative to protect and reinforce areas of the budget related to the Office of Constitutional Policing and training. The city has complied with only 9% of the consent decree requirements thus far.  Now is the time to increase our investment in the people and plans which will reduce public safety costs in the long term by changing long standing dynamics which drain the morale of officers and undermine the safety of the populace.  If the initial proposed cuts are resurrected, consider the true costs: 

• Increased risk of harm and death resulting from continuing unconstitutional, dangerous, and ineffective police practices
• Increased costs of monitoring the consent decree and related attorney fees
• Less data to inform future initiatives around efficiency and accountability
• Continued costly lawsuits (over $384 million was paid 2019-2023)

We are counting on you as Chicago’s leaders to be strategic in your decisions about where to cut the budget.  In addition to the vacancies discussed via the budget amendment, we would urge you to consider:

• Traffic Stops: Recent studies show that the astounding surge in traffic stops since 2015 has yielded almost no benefit in terms of fighting crime, and has actually led to a deterioration in relations between police and the Black and Brown neighborhoods where these practices are focused.
• Overtime: The city spent $259 million on overtime in 2023, and is on pace to spend over $250 million in 2024, including for events which are scheduled far in advance, such as street festivals.  The city can and must be foresightful and strategic with allocating workforce hours.

Housing

Because north lakefront communities like Uptown have experienced serious gentrification and displacement, ONE Northside, Voice of the People, and coalition partners are focusing on preserving two critical pieces of our affordable housing infrastructure providing over 230 units. The overall goal is to save affordable housing at the Leland Hotel and San Miguel Apartments with public funding and subsidies for acquisition, development, rent subsidies and resident services — using a “Development Without Displacement” preservation strategy that continues the government’s commitment to low-income residents.

The Mayor and City Council can support three important components that will allow current residents to stay in the building when new owners are identified and will keep the buildings deeply affordable. 

• Increasing funding for rental subsidies through the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund in the DOH budget to allow low-income tenants to stay in these buildings. We will continue to work with the purchasers to identify the specific amount of subsidies needed as they move forward. We know 27 subsidies are needed for current tenants at the San Miguel Apartments. 
• Allocate funding from the Housing and Economic Development bonds to support capital needs at these buildings. 

We appreciate the commitment made by Commissioner Castaneda to direct $25 million over 5 years from the Housing and Economic Development Bonds towards the SRO Preservation Loan Fund. We are expecting $5 million for calendar year 2024 and $5 million for calendar year 2025. With the continued rise of housing costs, the preservation of SROs is vital to providing affordable options for renters in our city. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners in the city council and the mayor’s office to ensure these funds are allocated annually. The previous funds that were allocated have all been allocated to projects around the city, including three northside SROs. 

Coalition Partner Priorities

Along with our priorities listed above, we want to lift up asks from coalition partners at People’s Unity Platform and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights for this year’s budget:

• $30M for Rapid Rehousing Funds
• $60M for the Chicago Empowerment Fund aka the Guaranteed Income Pilot

Thank you in advance for your careful consideration of our concerns.  Your leadership is needed now more than ever to navigate our city toward sustainable and enduring security.

Sincerely,

ONE Northside’s Leadership Team

ONE People’s Campaign’s Leadership Team