New government budgets require that we citizens act like grown-ups. Facing reality is not a bad thing as we decide what we want and can afford from government. These budgets should not be passed as fiats because they will affect us and our neighborhoods for decades. We can have our say.

The city is cutting $650 million while the schools and the county are filling $300 million budget gaps each. The story for other government budgets is much the same.

Free fares on CTA, Metra and Pace for seniors have been eliminated. Metra is raising fares by 20 percent and there will probably be a general CTA fare increase sometime next year.

Several thousand local government jobs will be cut while county government employee furloughs continue. Library hours will be cut back and emergency 911 calls will take longer to be answered.

For those of us in the neighborhoods, the bottom line is higher taxes, higher fees, closed police stations and reduced services. Our water and sewer fees will double over the next four years, costing $140 million more this coming year alone. At the same time, property taxes for public schools will go up $180 million. Charitable organizations such as hospitals, churches and religious schools will now pay for their water for the first time. If we want to keep them running, we will have to contribute more to charity.

Overall, these budgets end what Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls the budget “charade” of previous years — like the 1400 hundred budgeted positions in the police department which never got filled.

Governments are forced to shine the spotlight on union work rules that are no longer efficient, such as the rule that every city worker has to be driven to a work site by a Teamsters union truck driver who does no other work like painting a curb or picking up the garbage. We also have to reevaluate how services are delivered such as picking up garbage on a grid rather than a ward system to save money.

We have to replace water and sewer pipes — some of which date to 1886 and are wooden (thus leaking precious water into the ground). The mayor claims that this replacement work will create 1800 jobs a year in our neighborhoods, which is one positive aspect of our higher water bills.

Those driving “large passenger vehicles” like SUVs will pay more for city stickers since their vehicles put more wear and tear on the streets. Parking fees downtown will go up to finance new circulator bus lanes and build a new CTA stop near McCormick Place to jump-start South Loop development.

Chicago’s hotel tax will go up to 16.4 percent, which is much higher than our convention competitors such as Orlando and Las Vegas. But it will bring big bucks from those attending the NATO and G8 summits next spring.

Aldermen most directly affected by the three proposed police station closings, like 4th Ward Ald. Will Burns and 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack, are already holding community hearings with Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

McCarthy has defended these closings, arguing the shutterings will lead to a better police force.

“This consolidation plan will create a strong and sustainable organizational structure, allowing officers to perform their duties more effectively and with less bureaucracy,” McCarthy said in a written statement. “Additional officers will be freed up by the merger of administrative functions meaning more boots on the ground working in districts.”

But that’s a hard sale in neighborhoods served by these stations. These citizens will feel less safe.

It is clear that we are going to pay higher taxes and fees and that government services are going to be delivered differently. We simply can’t continue to do things the old way and use budget tricks to hide permanent deficits. We have run out of one-time fixes. The recession has come to local government and previous excesses can’t continue.

We can still adjust these budgets to lessen their negative impacts — they aren’t written in stone if we force our aldermen and county commissioners to stand up for us. Since our lives are going to be affected directly, every ward should have town hall meetings on them — not just those affected by police station closings.

---

By thegangsownchicago from west
Posted: 10/23/2011 1:10 AM

I agree with mostly everything that you said in the article except the phrase \"we.\" You should change that phrase to \"daley.\"