City Council hearings on Mayor Richard Daley’s proposed 1996 city budget open this week, with plenty for aldermen and citizens to discuss. The mayor’s plan calls for a $19.5 million property tax increase, a 2 percent hike in water rates, a 5 percent hike in sewer rates, increases in parking ticket fines and a 30-cent addition to the current 95-cent surcharge on monthly telephone bills to pay for the construction and maintenance of the city’s new 911 emergency dispatch center.
Under Daley’s proposal, Chicago residents who own a home with a market value of $100,000 would pay an extra $15 annually in property taxes as well as an average of an extra $9 to cover increases in water and sewer rates. The rise in the phone surcharge would result in an additional $3.60 in yearly phone bills, until the bonds for the dispatch center are paid off.
Hearings start Wednesday in City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St.
