Temporarily suspend TIFs
Go to Springfield and push for legislation to temporarily suspend (tax increment financing districts) until the economy picks up. The tax increment can flow back into the taxing bodies during this time of limited development.
— Brighterdaychicago
Library shutdown?
Don’t shut the libraries down; people need them. But you could certainly streamline them. The Harold Washington Library Center is grossly overstaffed; several people at a desk per each floor. Redistribute them and merge service points in that building. Also, get some self-checkout machines. Suburban libraries already have them.
— 397
Entrance fee
Install an I-PASS-like chip in the Chicago city sticker for vehicles. Vehicles with the sticker can enter and leave the city for free. All other vehicles will be charged a small fee, say 25 cents. Collection might be a problem, but I think you would see a tremendous rise in the purchase of city stickers.
— Pantslessmatt
Pushcart vent
Restaurants pay a lot of money setting up their business, and along come pushcart vendors selling food they make in their homes. They are not licensed and are uninspected by the city health department. They make thousands of dollars, tax free. There must be thousands of pushcart vendors in Chicago scamming the system. The extra revenue would help the city.
— chicagom204
Penalty for nonresidents
If living in the city is so hard on city workers, charge employees who don’t live in Chicago a “working tax” that would be equal to the tax they would pay on a house of equal value in Chicago, plus 5 percent of any amount they earn over $30,000 a year. In the case of needed layoffs, place their names at the top of the list. Direct these funds specifically toward education and safety.
— Community member
Turn off the lights
Turn off every other street lamp. The lights closest to the intersection should be left on, as intersections are statistically the most dangerous places to drive. According to the website illinoislighting.org/chicago, this could save taxpayers about $8 million a year. That’s not to mention the huge environmental benefit.
If residents feel that an area has become too dark, a simple website could be set up where citizens can submit a photo of the area with a request to have that lamp turned back on.
One
person from Streets and Sanitation could review the request and have the lamp turned back on or remain off.
I have also seen ideas for solar-powered street lamps. While the initial cost exists, future savings are very high.
— Community member
Enforce an existing city code. Collect the $50 to $200 fine aimed at businesses whose fliers litter our streets. Their names and address are printed right on top! Businesses flagrantly litter our streets with their numerous fliers, advertisements and menus. I would include telephone companies that pile unrequested phone books on sidewalks and entryways.
Solving this relieves the economic burden of the city to collect and dispose of litter, generates a measure of income and, most important, supports beautification of public streets.
— Community member
Conventions fees
Lower the fees charged to the conventions held at McCormick Place, etc. If we want our city to grow, we need to bring in conventions and visitors. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses all experience a financial increase based on convention business. We need money to come from outside the city. Cutting will get us only so far. Undercut Las Vegas and our other competitors.
Here is another idea. Give a discount to returning conventions. Each year that they return, they get a larger discount. Kind of like a frequent-flier program for conventions.
— pjwarneka
Rested employees perform better and get sick less frequently. Eliminating vacation days from being carried over into another year will prevent the city from having to make large payouts when an employee separates from his or her position. The city should mandate that all city employees take their annual vacation time.
— Community member
‘Panda’ police
Replace large police cars with smaller fuel-efficient patrol cars. Existing police cars can provide multiple roles — transport people in custody, pursuit and patrol. In Europe they have separate vehicles for each of these purposes, with patrol vehicles being smaller and more fuel efficient. These smaller cars are known as “Panda cars.” The benefits of these cars are reduced acquisition and operational costs. The savings could be shifted into increasing the number of police on duty, funding police pensions and addressing budget shortfalls.
This is a win for public safety and for the budget.
— joseph.musco
Government reinvention
Chicago should seriously consider reducing/downsizing government. Let’s look at some of the largest U.S. cities that use a mayoral-council system of city government.
New York, 8.3 million people: 51-member City Council
Los Angeles, 3.8 million people: 15-member City Council
Chicago, 2.7 million people: 50-member City Council
Houston, 2.1 million people: 14-member City Council
Philadelphia, 1.5 million people: 17-member City Council
Dallas, 1.3 million people: 14-member City Council
It is pretty evident that Chicago could use fewer aldermen. Chicago aldermen make $110,000 a year. Eliminating 25 aldermen would save $2.75 million a year. And that doesn’t include office staff . and health care coverage.
Do we need a city council? Absolutely. Do we need 50 aldermen? Absolutely not!
!
— acrespo13
Elephant in the room
There are several ways to generate revenue for the city:
1. Cut aldermanic salaries. Other cities’ council members are voluntary. They get a stipend, and that is it.
2. Tax individuals who work in the city but live elsewhere.
3. Remove the mandate that city venues like the Garfield Park Conservatory, South Shore Cultural Center, etc., must use “preferred vendors.” I know many people who would like to rent space for events but do not because they do not wish to use caterers from that list. As long as a caterer has insurance and proper licenses, that should be sufficient. It will generate more income because people can bring in whom they want for weddings, corporate events, etc.
4. Petition for Chicago to have its own lottery. More money is spent by Chicagoans on the Illinois lottery, but most of the prize money ends up with someone in some little downstate town. If we controlled our own lottery, we could use the millions to fund Chicago’s schools, infrastructure and social service programs.
— Community member
Cutting the budget not always the answer
It’s very easy and simplistic to think that the only way to balance the budget is by cutting things out of the budget. Chicago needs to invest in key areas that will attract consumers, tourists, conventions and businesses. Renovate the CTA. End beach pollution. Invest more money in the school system to attract world-class teachers to create a world-class educational system.
— Mpbarton
Marginal increase for every registered event in the city. The additional revenue should go directly into the budget. Triathlon, marathon, etc. A marginal increase shouldn’t have a noticeable impact on these events.
— Matthaynes
Tax hike
A higher tax rate for vacant lots will encourage owners to keep the property in use and discourage speculators and bankers from holding properties.
— johnb
Free city sticker!
If a person volunteers a certain number of hours to help clean up the parks, assist at a city library, etc., the incentive could be a waiver on the next year’s city vehicle sticker. This way we could get tons of help where it’s needed for approximately $80 per person.
— Lisamcewen
Text message tax
OK, people. How many text messages are sent in the city each day? They can be tracked. How about a 1 cent or even 0.5 cent tax on every text message sent in the city?
— Community member
Worker bee
I’d volunteer to mow some grass in Grant Park.
I’m proud of Grant Park, and I live right by it. Sometimes it gets shaggy. I can operate a lawn mower. I miss having a yard. Help me put the pieces together. It’d be a fun way to meet neighbors and take ownership and responsibility for part of what makes us the best city on Earth.
— Tyler.Guth
Serious waste of money
Earlier this year, I applied for a laborer position. I was fingerprinted, background-checked, sent to a physician and drug-tested, all of which the city paid for, only to be told that approval to hire new laborers was not granted. That was a SERIOUS WASTE OF TAXPAYERS’ MONEY because after a year I will have to go through the whole process again.
— Nailah Ledbetter
City income tax
Chicago needs a city income tax. There should be two rates:
1. For those who work and live in the city.
2. A higher rate for those who work in the city but live in the suburbs.
Too many people “use” Chicago services and parks and pay nothing in income or property taxes. This needs to stop.
— Bill
Leverage the viaducts
There are a number of unused rail lines that crisscross the city. The city should pave these elevated tracks and create a freight-truck corridor. Trucks can bypass city traffic for a small fee, $3 (we can leverage our I-PASS system). These dedicated bypass lanes will save truckers time and fuel and limit the number of trucks on our expressways.
— Community member
