Nearly each alderman on the Chicago City Council plans to ask for a increase subsequent yr, at the same time as the town faces a frightening funds disaster.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, nonetheless, plans to interrupt with the 48 of fifty councilors who will settle for the automated inflation-linked increase. Johnson’s proposed 2025 municipal funds on Wednesday revealed he had opted out.
“Believe it or not, I do not do that job for a paycheck,” Johnson, who determined final yr to simply accept a $4,742 increase for 2024, mentioned when requested concerning the choice.
“I simply suppose it is vital proper now to focus our consideration on methods to handle the structural harm that has occurred over the many years,” he mentioned.
The mayor expects to make $221,052 subsequent yr.
“What I’m desirous about most is the truth that we have bought belongings on this metropolis, and the monetary ruins of this metropolis are fairly extreme,” Johnson mentioned. “Going ahead, we’ll clear up the issue we inherited and put money into folks.”
Johnson on Wednesday proposed a $300 million property tax improve because the centerpiece of his plan to shut an estimated $1 billion funds hole. He proposed the tax improve to the City Council as the easiest way to keep away from shedding metropolis staff and chopping providers in a tough funds yr.
But whereas Johnson selected to surrender the rise, the councilors he now has to persuade to approve the funds made a unique choice: 48 accepted, because the funds proposal reveals.
Alds solely. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, twenty fifth, and Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, thirty third, determined to not settle for the rise, in keeping with the mayor’s spending plan. The 48 councilors who took the pay rise will see a 4.1% improve of their paychecks. The 29 highest-paid aldermen will earn $152,016 subsequent yr, whereas the lowest-paid alderman will earn $123,024.
The will increase are linked to the buyer value index. They are awarded mechanically, however councilors can select to proceed receiving their present wage. Aldermanics’ salaries fluctuate as a result of some members have rejected previous pay will increase, though the overwhelming majority have accepted will increase in recent times.
The 48 councilors accepted the will increase though Johnson didn’t search comparable proposed funds will increase for his or her ward places of work. In the mayor’s plan, budgets for workers, interns and alderman bills elevated by lower than 1 %, a rise lower than the speed of inflation.
Sigcho-Lopez cited the town’s dire monetary straits when requested why he hadn’t accepted the rise. The funds disaster reveals that the wealthiest in Chicago and Illinois should pay extra, he added.
“It’s vital that all of us pay our justifiable share,” Sigcho-Lopez mentioned. “I all the time consider in main by instance. It is vital that we, as public servants, do extra to make sure that it isn’t essentially the most weak who pay to steadiness budgets.”
City Clerk Anna Valencia and Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin additionally accepted the raises. Both elected officers will rise to a wage of $171,426 — up 28.4% from their 2022 salaries thanks largely to an additional increase championed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot — after making $164,628 this yr.
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