Chicago Government Jobs to Be Cut
Many Chicago government jobs could soon be cut.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley proposed laying off 929 city employees, eliminating 1,346 vacancies and raising fees, parking and amusement taxes to solve Chicago’s worst budget crisis in a generation.
“Believe me, I don’t want to lay off employees and cause pain and suffering in their families,” Daley said. “I don’t want to reduce services or make cuts in programs.”
The 929 layoffs mark the largest sluice of Daley’s nearly 20 years in office. And the mayor did not mince words: Chicagoans will feel the pain through “slower response times to some everyday services.”
“It will take longer to tow abandoned cars, clean up vacant lots, trim trees and replace and repair street lights … When there are light or moderate snowfalls, side-streets and alleys will take longer to plow,” Daley added.
Of the 1,346 vacant jobs that Daley plans to eliminate, none are sworn police officers. But Mark Donahue, Fraternal Order of Police President, called that a “shell game,” since Daley plans on saving $10 million by slowing police hiring — with only 200 officers hired during all of 2009.
With 450 sworn vacancies by Dec. 31 and an annual attrition rate of 600, Chicago could be “down 850 police officers by the end of 2009,” Donahue said. On top of the that, the city’s airports also are having trouble filling police officer vacancies.
“They’re saying they’re not eliminating the positions,” Donahue added. “But they’re not going to fill the positions. The mayor has a card game going with public safety.”
Daley is eliminating free trolley rides and the popular perk of providing free jumping jacks for neighborhood festivals. He is also
doubling the daily fine for delinquent library books, DVDs and periodicals from 10 to 20 cents.
If Daley doesn’t seal the deal to privatize Chicago’s 35,000 parking meters by year’s end — and get at least $150 million from the
transaction to apply to the 2008 and 2009 shortfalls — more layoffs and more tax increases will be needed.
“The over 1,000 positions that he’s eliminating is a historic level of cutting in city government,”Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said. “That is the only responsible approach. You cannot fix this problem with tax increases. In fact, a tax increase in these economic times would have a negative impact on the city.”