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Committee on Finance · Dec 16, 2025

Tuesdayat least 4 h 53 min23 officials identified15 public speakers4 agenda itemsVideo: Vimeo

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19 of 20 meetings transcribed, Oct 24, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026.This meeting: Dec 16, 2025

Click any time stamp on this page to jump the video there.

Agenda · 4 itemsShowHide
  1. 4:23:46An ordinance authorizing the levy of real estate taxes for the City of Chicago for Fiscal Year 2026 (The Fiscal Year 2026 Tax Levy).
  2. 4:41:26An ordinance authorizing the issuance of City general obligation bonds (2026-2027 General Obligation Borrowing Ordinance).
  3. 5:22:54An ordinance authorizing the issuance of City general obligation bonds and/or Sales Tax Securitization Corporation sales tax revenue bonds for refunding outstanding general obligation bonds and/or sales tax revenue bonds
  4. 1:18:48An ordinance, introduced by Alderman Matthew O’Shea and others, amending Titles 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14A, 14B, 14X, and 15 of the Municipal Code (2026 Municipal Code Revenue Ordinance Alternative).9 clips

What happened

Each sentence checked against the transcript.

  1. The committee began a public comment period limited to 30 minutes, with each speaker limited to 2 minutes.43:19
  2. On item 5, a roll call was taken, and the ordinance was announced as passing “22 to 13.”4:20:37

Quotes

Officials only, in order.

We have no grocery tax. We have no property tax, and we have no head tax.Scott Waguespack · Ward 321:22:03
I just want to make sure that this alternative budget that we just presented today does not include any property taxes.Monique L. Scott · Ward 242:05:49
…someone who was a part of the team putting this together— it does not have to be right now— provide examples of other municipalities that have done what is being proposed in this budget, namely the selling of debt as an asset?Daniel La Spata · Ward 12:34:02
…much in the efficiency recommendations include jobs to be either closed or cut, or are there any?William E. Hall · Ward 62:39:28
Have we projected some type of ramp-up time in order to get the advertising revenues we need for that project?Walter Redmond Burnett · Ward 272:59:31
…if you’re selling debt to someone, how do you control what they do if they’ve decided they’ve already locked a deal, they’re going to do whatever they need to? Is there legally controls you could put in place which a management ordinance wouldn’t address?Andre Vasquez, Jr. · Ward 403:19:19
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It’s been 2 years plus now. We’ve not expanded it, and that is a revenue driver because the amount of people who are blocking bike lanes and buses would actively be paying for it.Andre Vasquez, Jr. · Ward 403:22:52
So how will these advertisements be targeted and protect our young people from buying things that they shouldn’t be buying? And what kind of advertisements are we talking about?Anthony Quezada · Ward 354:03:10
Can you speak to the fact of what is left in the budget? Uh, did you touch anything in the budget as it relates to youth employment?Monique L. Scott · Ward 244:04:29

Who spoke

23 officials identified · talk time, most first.

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Public comment: 15 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 Finance, Dec 16, 2025: Chicago.” https://cities.myhamlet.com/chicago/finance/meetings/2025-12-16. Data as of Oct 9, 2026 (version d14b03c); meeting of Dec 16, 2025.