Committee on Budget and Government Operations · Jul 16, 2026
Thursdayat least 5 h 32 min22 officials identified0 public speakersVideo: Vimeo
The committee came to order, and a motion to allow remote participation under Rule 59 was announced as carried by voice vote.
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What happened
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Quotes
Officials only, in order.
…the fact that the, the tax property taxes are so behind. How is that affecting us as a city? Will it cost us money? Will we have to get a line of credit to keep up?Michelle Harris · Ward 857:57
Budget Director, yesterday it was reported that CPS is going to lay off 600— 760 teachers, 5 furlough days. Um, my question is, what can we anticipate in terms of a TIF surplus?Marty Quinn · Ward 131:27:34
…so we’re budgetarily fully staffed with laborers for the Department of Streets and Sanitation and the Department of Transportation on paving crews, on refuse collection?Matthew J. O'Shea · Ward 191:35:59
I want to move on to, uh, the advanced pension payment. We budgeted $260 million this year.Matthew J. O'Shea · Ward 191:37:46
Will the administration in this next budget seek an additional or larger TIF surplus than we saw last year?Matthew J. O'Shea · Ward 191:41:23
And I find it very frustrating that you say that here you are trying to implement our budget and we’re seeing nothing. So, um, could you explain that?Debra Silverstein · Ward 501:43:46
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The time and attention— oh, $8.1 billion in debt. Is there any consideration of writing that off?Gilbert Villegas · Ward 361:57:55
I’d like to understand the percentage of turnover goal for each department so far this year, if that could be provided?Daniel La Spata · Ward 12:08:45
I’m curious what the— and again, we’re going to the enterprise fund. I’m curious when the enterprise— when the water and sewer enterprises funds so far exceed the expenditures of the corresponding departments, why are we collecting so much more in revenue than it takes to operate those departments?Daniel La Spata · Ward 12:14:11
What I’m asking is, but we do charge tax on— there is a tax though, right? We do get a tax on if somebody goes to the grocery store for something, right?David Moore · Ward 172:23:30
According to the management ordinance, we were supposed to have proposals February 15th. Now you guys put out an RFI on February 10th. So what that shows me is that whilst you were working towards a goal, it doesn’t appear that folks were in any hurry to move on something that was passed on December 29th.Samantha Nugent · Ward 392:38:00
…you releasing an RFP now in August or September? Is that what I’m hearing?Samantha Nugent · Ward 392:38:49
I also, I know we were talking about advertising revenue, and I guess I’m confused with why we would even be contemplating an RFI or why we aren’t moving on an RFP with advertising.Samantha Nugent · Ward 392:40:07
Through the chair would be terrific. Um, uh, okay, so presentation mentioned projected year-end budget gap of $89.3 million.Matthew J. Martin · Ward 472:44:29
It does seem though that it is an unfortunate trend that more people are gambling and doing sports betting. So it would be awesome to just get the data on around what those numbers look like, because I can see this being as much of a public health issue as it is just a revenue generator.Walter Redmond Burnett · Ward 273:05:15
…there platforms that are not paying the tax that we are viewing as should pay the tax?Andre Vasquez, Jr. · Ward 403:07:28
We, we had $0 in cost recovery for 2025. It looks like we’re trending that way now. Are we doing anything differently?Maria E. Hadden · Ward 493:12:54
Last time you were here, I asked you a question about whose responsibility it was to notify the state that the city had passed VGTs. Did we ever find out who’s responsible for notifying the state?Anthony Beale · Ward 93:24:37
I mean, the list just goes on and on. We have a lot of positions that are vacant that could be possibly bringing revenue into the City of Chicago, and I think those positions should be of the highest priority knowing that we have a budget deficit.Anthony Beale · Ward 93:30:29
I mean, I cannot believe that now, after some city council members proposed this budget, that we have the audacity to be blaming the administration for the utterly failure of balancing the budget. $130 million of the budget short of the projected revenue.Byron Sigcho-Lopez · Ward 253:44:15
…many meetings did your team have with departments to coordinate these programs and, you know, stand up to these RFPs and RFIs? Usually, how many do you get and how many in comparison you got for these ones?Byron Sigcho-Lopez · Ward 253:49:15
I have some SSAs in my community. Did they receive their payment from the TIF surplus that we did for this year?Pat Dowell · Ward 34:08:08
We had a— we ended last year with a $217 million surplus, and that is in a reserve fund someplace, correct?Nicole T. Lee · Vice chair · Ward 115:13:32
Who spoke
22 officials identified · talk time, most first.
- Jason C. ErvinChair · Ward 28 · 16 minFirst speaks at 15:52
- Andre Vasquez, Jr.Ward 40 · 9.0 minFirst speaks at 3:07:04
- Gilbert VillegasWard 36 · 7.7 minFirst speaks at 1:02:35
- Byron Sigcho-LopezWard 25 · 6.9 minFirst speaks at 3:44:02
- Daniel La SpataWard 1 · 6.8 minFirst speaks at 2:08:43
- Pat DowellWard 3 · 6.7 minFirst speaks at 50:02
- Anthony BealeWard 9 · 5.9 minFirst speaks at 3:21:58
- Brendan ReillyWard 42 · 5.7 minFirst speaks at 1:12:53
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- Ronnie L. MosleyWard 21 · 5.4 minFirst speaks at 3:56:18
- Maria E. HaddenWard 49 · 5.1 minFirst speaks at 3:12:40
- Samantha NugentWard 39 · 5.0 minFirst speaks at 2:36:13
- Michelle HarrisWard 8 · 4.6 minFirst speaks at 57:49
- David MooreWard 17 · 4.5 minFirst speaks at 57:01
- William ConwayWard 34 · 4.2 minFirst speaks at 2:51:24
- Raymond LopezWard 15 · 4.0 minFirst speaks at 1:49:02
- Marty QuinnWard 13 · 3.6 minFirst speaks at 1:27:35
- Matthew J. MartinWard 47 · 3.6 minFirst speaks at 2:43:51
- Matthew J. O'SheaWard 19 · 3.3 minFirst speaks at 1:33:58
- Rossana Rodriguez SanchezWard 33 · 3.0 minFirst speaks at 2:28:21
- Nicole T. LeeVice chair · Ward 11 · 2.9 minFirst speaks at 4:03:48
- Debra SilversteinWard 50 · 1.6 minFirst speaks at 1:43:00
- Walter Redmond BurnettWard 27 · 1.6 minFirst speaks at 3:02:00
Public comment: 0 speakers.
How we count
Each summary sentence is checked against the transcript before it is published; in a blind check, 144 of 150 sentences were right. A voice gets an official’s name only when two AI readers and a code check agree, so the minutes undercount and are not attendance. Officials only: members of the public are counted, never named, shown or quoted, and full transcripts aren’t published because they can carry their names. More on how we know
Cite this page
Hamlet, “Committee on Budget and Government Operations, Jul 16, 2026: Chicago.” https://cities.myhamlet.com/chicago/budget-and-government-operations/meetings/2026-07-16. Data as of Oct 9, 2026 (version d14b03c); meeting of Jul 16, 2026.