December 2, 2009 :: Legislative

2010 City of Chicago Budget Passes

On Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Chicago's City Council voted 38-12 in favor of Mayor Richard M. Daley's 2010 operating budget.

By dipping into the City's controversial parking meter lease funding and providing unpaid days off for many city employees, Mayor Daley and Chicago's alderman were able to pass a budget that did not include new fines, fees or taxes on residents.  The budget also included relief for property owners, but relief for small business owners has not been expanded.

Read more from the City's original budget press release:

Growing Chicago's Economy
Daley also said the 2010 budget invests in programs to help turn around Chicago's economy by creating new jobs and opportunity, new businesses and by providing job training.

He said the city will use up to $25 million ($8.4 million this year) in parking meter revenue to fund a job training program, called TechCorps, for Chicago workers who have been laid off during the bad economy.

Further, Daley said that in the next few weeks, he will announce a major new collaboration between government and Chicago's business community, focused on using resources more effectively to help recruit and retain businesses and trade shows in Chicago. And, he will soon propose new steps to help the City's small businesses stay afloat, so they too can retain and create jobs.

Improving Neighborhood Quality of Life
Through the city's capital program it will reconstruct 11 miles of sewers and lining and rehabilitate an additional 40 miles of them. It will resurface more than 550 blocks of local streets and more than 110 alleys and replace more than 150 blocks of sidewalks.

Daley said the city will start construction for a new fire station, a new police station and five new branch libraries.

In closing Daley reminded his audience that while other cities and states are cutting key services and raising taxes, Chicago is not.