Democrats Spent Years Running Their Cities’ Budgets Into The Red. Now That Tab Is Finally Coming Due
Story by Ireland Owens • 21h
Several major blue cities in the U.S. have been marred by a slate of massive budgetary problems in recent years.
City officials in Chicago and Los Angeles are currently grappling with how to address substantial budget shortfalls. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is struggling with various financial issues across several sectors, with both its school district and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the city’s public transit system, facing massive budget deficits.
Chicago is facing a projected budget gap of nearly $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2026. The city’s budget deficit has largely been exacerbated by soaring pension costs, declining state revenue and rising personnel costs.
“Chicago has infamously bad finances,” Dylan Sharkey, an assistant editor at the Chicago-based think tank Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As far as the budget, it lays out power for the mayor and city councils, so for example, in some [Illinois] cities voters have to approve property tax hikes, and Chicagoans don’t get to do that.”
Chicago’s personnel costs, including salaries, benefits, pensions and other expenses for city employees, will consume 63% of the city’s corporate fund in 2025, totaling $3.53 billion, according to a report from the IPI.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/democrats-spent-years-running-their-cities-budgets-into-the-red-now-that-tab-is-finally-coming-due/ar-AA1DzkAp?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=be423086bd0b48b3815c581390803a62&ei=68
