The City Council passed Mayor Emanuel’s 2014 budget 45-5 on November 26. In spite of debates over controversial items such as distribution of police funding and an increased cigarette tax, only one South Side alderman, Ricardo Muñoz, voted against the budget. Below, we highlight the major changes and most interesting numbers picked out from the mayor’s 130-page budget document.
$8.672 billion: Size of 2014 budget, including $1.81 billion in estimated grant revenue from federal and state agencies and private entities
$790 million: Projected 2014 budget deficit when Mayor Emanuel took office
$339 million: Current budget deficit. Through major spending cuts, closings, and efficiencies such as the reconfiguring of the trash collection system, Mayor Emanuel has been able to cut down the projected budget deficit by more than half
443: Number of times the word “Chicago” appears in the 2014 Chicago budget
556: Number of times the word “budget” appears in the 2014 Chicago budget
45,000: Number of CPS children who will now have access to eyewear and eye exams. The funds for this initiative are expected to come from the increased tax on cigarettes. The increase in revenue generated by “speed enforcement devices” in school zones will be allocated to CPS for summer and after-school programs, among others
$48 million: Amount allocated for construction of extended downtown Riverwalk from State to Lake Streets. The proposed expansion of the current Riverwalk would include floating gardens, fishing piers, restaurants, and kayak rental stations for kayaking on the Chicago River. Mayor Emanuel announced plans for this expansion of the Riverwalk in October 2012
$76 million: Projected 2014 increase in revenue from “fines, forfeitures, and penalties,” due to parking fine hike
$24 million: Amount saved by phasing out healthcare benefits for some retirees
50 cents: Increase in per-pack cigarette tax in 2014. This will dramatically increase city revenues, but certain aldermen believe it will do more harm than good. Brendan Reilly of the 42nd Ward, for example, said he worried that the tax would cause smokers to leave Illinois to buy cigarettes
300: Number of businesses that will be aided by Chicago’s microlending initiative by 2016
18,000: Square footage of the Whole Foods to be constructed on 63rd and Halsted. It is hoped that the store will help relieve what has commonly been described as a “food desert” in Englewood
100: Number of jobs Whole Foods is expected to bring to Englewood
$1,053,747,571: Amount of funding allocated to the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Patrol. The police department, with a total budget allocation of $1.3 billion, makes up almost a seventh of Chicago’s total spending
$754,381: Amount of the Department of Law’s funding that comes from sewer funds
4: New airlines servicing O’Hare in 2013, to Berlin, Qatar, Vienna, and Beijing
$1.03 billion: Revenue from O’Hare Airport operations in 2012
$249.1 million: Revenue from Midway Airport operations in 2012
9.7 million: Number of “books or other resources” that the Chicago Public Library system circulates
$5 million: Amount allocated for construction of new Chinatown library
$53.4 million: Amount of money generated in 2012-2013 from “fiscal discipline”
$52.8 million: Amount allocated for HIV/AIDS prevention
-$34,074,086: Change in spending on “city development” from 2013 to 2014
$121 million: Amount spent on the Head Start and Early Head Start child development programs
700: Blocks on which CDOT will seal sidewalk cracks in 2014, up from 400 in 2013
$31,640,000: Amount allocated for construction of new Central Loop Bus Rapid Transit and the Union Transportation Center
2006: Year since which all aldermen have been required to complete an online ethics course
$18,314,327: Amount allocated for bridge management
$481,035: Funds allocated in budget to provide “general support to the Executive”
$54,860,000: Amount allocated for workers’ compensation in 2014
$3,465,750: Amount allocated for a new Stony Island cycling track from 69th to 77th Streets
$37.5 million: Amount allocated for new Washington and Wabash “L” station
$19,500,000: Amount spent to construct new Green Line station at Cermak
475: Number of Divvy bikeshare stations in Chicago by end of 2014
$46,877: Chicago’s median household income, compared to $55,735 in Illinois
11.3%: Chicago’s unemployment rate in 2011
10.2%: Chicago’s unemployment rate in 2012
This story has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: December 4, 2013
The print version of this story misstated the size of the passed budget. Due to an editing error, the budget was listed as $8,672.1 billion, rather than $8.672 billion. It was also not specified that the $8.672 billion includes $1.81 billion in estimated grant revenue.