Mayor Brandon Johnson says Chicago is staring down a mid-year budget deficit and he's pointing the finger at City Council city officials said last week the city is grappling with an 89 million dollar shortfall.

Revised down from the 130 million dollar figure.

The mayor announced earlier this month last year.

All the people rejected Johnson's proposed head tax on the city's largest companies and instead approved a budget that relied on alternative revenue sources, including selling city debt to private collectors and licensing advertising on city light poles.

So far, Johnson says much of that expected revenue hasn't materialized.

Corporate aligned members of the city Council chose a different direction and adopted there.

>> So-called alternative budget.

And throughout that process, we raise concerns about the assumptions in that plan.

Not to pose for the sake of opposing.

But because Chicagoans deserve honesty about the risks of budgets that rely on fines and fees.

>> But some of people are pushing back on the mayor's narrative and say he's slow rolling the implementation of the new revenues.

Joining us with their thoughts on the city budget are Alderman William Hall who 6th Ward on the city's south side includes parts of Englewood, Chatham and Auburn Gresham and Alderman Scott Waguespack who's 30nd Ward on the city's north side includes part of Winter Park, Lincoln Park and Lake View.

Thank you both for being here.

We appreciate that So when older man wakes back, you're part of the group of alderman who passed the budget over Mayor Johnson's objections.

And you've disputed the mayor's estimate of what's now in 89 million dollar budget deficit.

What do you think the true figure is?

I think it's about 100 million dollar short, but it's 100 million short because the mayor didn't implement the budget that was passed.

And as you recall, he didn't veto that budget.

He basically said >> he was going to move forward with it.

And what we've seen is just a failure to execute what the legislature decided to pass.

And that's where we are at this point.

That's a just a failure of execution by the Johnson administration.

>> So why would he, you know, deep if you see this way, sort of inflate the deficit here?

Well, I think if you are taking care of the pieces of the budget that you're supposed you know, we put a handful of things in there that would help close that budget cap.

If you're not executing those through the budget office, then you're not doing your part to make sure that when the legislator says like they do in every city, here's what we would like to see in the budget.

You have to move forward on those things and they just failed to execute Helderman.

How about that idea that they're somehow slow walking more implementation?

I think number one, let's look Vtt that was something proposing the party again, he take 3300 slot machines and inner cities across the city of Chicago.

>> 2 generated projected revenue.

all due respect.

I don't think that gambling number one, they assume that people will buy debt in the market, which means that those who have the burden of paying parking tickets reason why wasn't so by the way, because people have it so debt collection, gambling and then liquor tax.

So the best that we got and 6 ward in this budget will be liquor gambling and 100 calls to give money.

I think the Chicagoans deserve better.

They deserve dignity and the budget.

doesn't preserve dignity is what we're dealing with right now.

Over 3,000 people, both in the public schools as well as and city government are going to lose their jobs.

And so again, we better then gambling were better than debt collections.

And we definitely better than what has been proposed.

And so we knew again only having 48 hours to look at how do you spend 17 billion dollars?

It was a responsible in the first place again to obstruct is one thing but not have adequate solutions over the entire process.

January was the budget season, not necessarily December 2 days before a threatened check.

Now I want to come back to some of those specific revenue items, but, >> you know, as we're heading into the fall, coming up, you know, faster than we probably will be ready for and heading into another budget season.

How difficult is it to to negotiate and implement a spending plan when as colleague Alderman hadn't put it, you know, there's a deficit of trust.

Well, let me tell you, number one, the budget wasn't funded.

So number 2, essentially at the end what is there to negotiate at this point.

Again, let's look at one of streamlines revenue, which was video gaming.

They say that that would generate at Swansea about a million.

33 100.

That's 3300 slot machines have to be online.

That was not realistic.

Secondly, debt collection was a big deal.

They thought that 90 million dollars would be available by simply calling people would 1, 8, 100 numbers on the a cell phone.

Nobody want to touch our because the people Chicago just don't have it.

So those 2 budget lines of revenue was what they thought would be sufficient enough to balance the budget.

augmented reality.

We haven't seen a dime of that because essentially, again, it was unrealistic.

So the ideas on paper was almost like a check that was written with no money in the bank.

Now everybody's crying about the fact that the check is balancing.

I mean, overnight, expect how about that idea of, you know, selling the unpaid debt, you know, advertising on city, light poles.

You know, the administration says we've been working on this, but we can't find buyers for the dead are advertised.

Advertisers interested city property.

What's your response to that?

I don't think they tried hard enough.

It's very evident that one other cities are doing this.

It you're capable of doing and in Chicago and I'm talking not just in Illinois, but around the United States win.

>> You look at the debt collection.

I know the more mayors out there saying it's immoral to collect some buddies debt from somebody who parked at a fire hydrant or a developer.

Who's not paying their fines or fees.

But those are things that we've been collecting for decades.

Other cities do it too.

And the mayor has basically allowed 1 billion in additional debt to be created here over the last 3 years that he's just not collecting and he's I'm not going to do that because it's immoral.

But if if we can't move forward and say that people have to pay what they for something that they did and I'm not talking about collecting from people who have to have water in their homes.

Nobody has ever said that in their budget coalition.

That is the mayor going out and MISD erecting this entire budget.

We're talking about also collecting from city employees and our sister agencies tens of millions of dollars that the mayor refuses to collect on.

Those are people that CT are CPS at the parks at Tom C H a everybody needs to make sure that if things are going to be fair and equitable, that they're paying for the wrongs that they did well, since the let's be honest.

Let's look at the conditions that every Chicago in an American is facing as well.

We're down 11% on disposable income, meaning that 11% of what people have to spend.

>> They don't have more.

The cost of food is rising.

The cost gas is almost at all-time high.

Affordability is the number one issue that people are facing across the city of Chicago.

How dare we say to people who are down 11% and then to the 3,000 get ready to lose their job pay because you made a mistake.

How many of us have not paid parking?

I'm not justifying again responsibility.

But what I am saying is that where is the compassion?

We've seen grace periods extended.

We see mercy programs.

But at the end of the day, the reason why the debt did not sale is because people knew in the debt market that Chicagoans are broke.

People are hurting the average income in my ward is only $38,000 a year on the one neighborhood is suffered and that one cannot carry the 6.

So Chicagoans don't have the money.

The best that 31 decided to offer to Chicago more pressure to get money that they don't.

Rather than say, give one.

That's just come a complete false.

Nick, I've got a call that out because we've heard this narrative from the mayor over and over and over again.

So what they want what that was going when you look at the details of that thing's not going to say what that's going to be.

they went to market with nobody want to touch point and don't have them because old boys.

Again, it is.

It was for parking tickets.

>> And you're telling me that people should pay their parking.

Know what I'm saying is that even pay his wife deals before it was okay.

Mayor Scott, let's let's not live in a but was unhurt.

Will that's not live in a bubble.

People don't know.

in a bubble?

Again, it's just because the mayor didn't pay his water bill.

That's his business.

But at the end of the day, at I represent award of 47,000 people making on average less than $40,000.

Right?

And there's anybody in other words.

So to penalize people don't have it because they made a mistake, that is responsible way to I want to penalize anybody for that.

We're we're looking at a large tranches of funding that could be had in this budget.

When you look at the business community, the mayor has said we're going to go ahead and put more burden on the business community.

When you look at the ppl millions of dollars.

So I think what we're looking at here is the mayor decided he wasn't going do this project because it was actually a good budget.

We only looked at 2% of the entire budget and he he thought that 98% of you and want to ask, you know, what we heard from Mayor Johnson, you know, in that clip, setting conversation is that said that you and some of his other, you know, critics and city councilor line with corporations rather than the people of the city.

What's your reaction to?

not the case.

I mean, if you look at what he billing for the small businesses, medium and large in the city, it's hundreds of millions more than when he came in.

He's not even going after the people that we've said when we go for debt sale or we go for collections, we were saying they should go after everybody, developers and included and he had a date right before the budget where there's 8 million dollars in uncollected fees from a developer.

He allowed them to go ahead and pass an ordinance or basically go ahead not paying that debt.

So he's not even really taken the effort to get that done.

Okay.

So again, we talk about just one line.

And again, I don't think that 1, 8, 100 numbers calling residents of the Chicago is the best means raising rent revenue.

Secondly, what was not that well, when you sell the debt, they have a right to collect today and their means of collecting dead is typically invasive ignored Andrew number 2, which they have not mentioned was the fact that Vgts.

>> Was a part of their proposal.

They would have had to put 3300 machines online.

actually be correct to the first because the city does collect that every day of the week.

But have different agency.

Gave him a second thing with mentioned is the fact that Vgts was a part of their point teen seconds left down all say that tea is I admit that its 6 million dollars of the entire right.

So at the end day, what what we haven't done is tax and rain in the sweepstakes.

Machines by the thousands.

And but because I to know is the only 2000 people come August 31st will be losing their jobs.

All right.

Take frightening, it Thank you.

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