City Limits: Aulde lang fine: Chicago’s 12 new taxes and fees will cost every household more than $1K
After a 2015 all too lacking in serious reform from the Windy City, Chicago residents will need to make New Year’s resolutions to tighten their family budgets.
Throughout the year, city politicians gifted Chicagoans with at least a dozen new city and county-level taxes, tax hikes and fee hikes, totaling $1.13 billion, or more than $1,100 per household.
Here are the major new taxes, tax hikes and fee hikes set to whack Chicagoans in 2016 and beyond:
Chicago Sun Times: Math doesn't add up for Emanuel’s $1 billion CPS savings claim
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has repeatedly claimed that the financially beleaguered Chicago Public Schools system has cut its budget by about $1 billion since he took office in 2011.
For months, CPS has refused to provide records to back up the $1 billion figure. But a CPS summary report obtained from another source and other records cast doubt on Emanuel’s claimed cost-cutting.
Among the savings the school system has claimed are $42 million as a result of cuts in special education, $17 million more by firing janitors and privatizing school-cleaning through a contract with Aramark and another $13 million by “reducing Chicago Police Department expense.”
USA Today: Chicago police officer fatally shoots 2 while responding to call
A Chicago police officer shot and killed two people early Saturday while responding to a domestic dispute call, authorities said.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office identified the two killed as Bettie R. Jones, 55, and Quintonio Legrier, 19. Both died at nearby hospitals shortly after the incident, police said. The incident comes as the troubled city is already embroiled in a federal civil rights investigation after a 2014 officer-involved shooting.
Police said an officer was responding to a “domestic dispute” around 4:30 a.m. Saturday when a person became combative “resulting in the discharging of the officer’s handgun, fatally wounding two individuals.” Both of those killed were black. Police did not disclose the officer’s name or race.
Chicago Sun Times: Byrd-Bennett’s big bash
At just a shade under $4,000, the room at Elephant & Castle in downtown Chicago had an advantage.
It was the cheapest of three suggested options for the Christmas party that Barbara Byrd-Bennett, then the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, was going to host in December 2012.
But price apparently wasn’t the main concern. Byrd-Bennett, after all, wasn’t going to pay for the party herself.
Chicago Sun Times: Illinois settles class-action suit on mentally ill inmates
Lawyers representing 11,000 mentally ill inmates in Illinois prisons have reached a settlement with the state in a long-running class-action lawsuit that alleged inadequate treatment amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment,” a deal both sides heralded.
Among a long list of provisions, the agreement calls for the Illinois Department of Corrections to build four new treatment units, including at Logan, Pontiac and Dixon prisons, at a cost of $40 million. Hiring new staff members is expected to reach another $40 million a year.
ABC: Illinois licenses, IDs no longer federally compliant
Soon, residents of Illinois and at least five other states may need more than just their driver’s license to get through the airport security line.
The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office got an email from Homeland Security officials informing them the state has been denied an extension on an exemption on the 2005 Real ID Act.
Consequently, soon residents will no longer be able to use only their driver’s license or state ID to get into most federal facilities, including airports.
Daily Herald: Program aims to break cycle of reincarceration
When Curt Howard left prison in September 2014, he was doing OK. He moved in with his mother, and he found a job.
Then Howard, a recovering addict, reunited with his former girlfriend, who still was using heroin, he said.
“My boss is telling me, ‘Why you moving out?’ My mom is telling me, ‘Why you moving out?’ Everyone is telling me not to move out – even my friends,” he said.