Pictured: Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois. [Stephen Hogan / CC BY 2.0]

While acknowledging comments from loved ones of dead Cook County Jail inmates during a Cook County Board committee meeting on Wednesday, commissioners a day later passed several larger sheriff’s office agenda items – among others – during their last meeting of 2024.

Those agenda line items included approval of a corrections staff consulting services contract renewal – amounting to a total of $234,000 after a requested $117,000 increase, according to county board documents. 

Commissioners also deferred a $2,500 proposed legal settlement in an alleged civil rights violation case involving the sheriff’s office to the county board’s finance committee. In addition, board members passed a resolution requesting the sheriff’s office to regularly testify before the county board’s criminal justice committee starting next month, which would touch on the status of changes made in operating the county’s electronic monitoring program.

Pictured: Seal of Cook County, Illinois. [Daniel X. O’Neil / CC BY 2.0]

Clarifications Published Dec. 19, 2024: Includes clearer definition of Class 3-18 split-class property assessment classification and clarifies location of identified affected properties.

After Cook County officials recently reclassified the county’s Class 3-18 tax assessment definition for mixed-use buildings, the assessor office’s chief-of-staff testified before county board commissioners on Wednesday about how the office corrected the language to ease mounting property owner and tenant concerns.

The city’s Class 3-18 property split-class classification was part of County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s efforts to close “apartment loopholes” allegedly allowing some commercial properties to unfairly get tax breaks, according to a 2022 report from the county’s Office of the Independent Inspector General (OIIG). In turn, the reclassification resulted in more properties’ assessed values skyrocketing and, in some cases, their tax bills doubling, according to public commenters during Wednesday’s meeting.

At a press conference, Governor JB Pritzker is comparing real nerds, with those containing THC (provided via X)

Governor JB Pritzker announced his support for House Bill 4293 at a press conference on Friday. The bill would regulate hemp derived THC in a method similar to cannabis. Back in May the Illinois Senate passed the bill 54-1 which would have limited hemp-derived intoxicating THC sales to state-licensed cannabis dispensaries. The accompanying House Bill 4293 didn’t find any traction and the session ended without a vote.  

“Over the past five years an unregulated and unsafe market has been developing fueled by companies circumventing legislation and exploiting loopholes.” said the Governor, he compared two products advertised as “nerds” one that contains THC and another that does not claiming that hemp derived THC companies are “using deceptive advertising tactics to market them directly to minors.”

Ald. Anthony Beale (9) speaks in opposition to the mayor's 2025 budget plan during a City Council meeting Dec. 16, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

By a slim 27-23 margin, the Chicago City Council approved a $17.1 billion budget for 2025 on Monday.

The narrow vote helped the city avoid an unprecedented government shutdown nearly two weeks before a deadline and after weeks of negotiations between the mayor and alderpeople. It concludes a budget process that already began late but sets up a potentially similar contentious fight next year, multiple council members said. 

“With this budget, we put yet another down payment toward a better, stronger and safer future for the working people and families who call this city their home,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a news conference following the council meeting. “While the budget process may have been different from the past, it included truly unprecedented levels of collaboration and input from the City Council.”

Pictured: Chicago City Hall from Daley Plaza at Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois. [Lucas Livingston / CC BY 2.0] 

Just before the Chicago City Council at last passed its contentious fiscal year 2025 budget, its members passed on Monday a substitute ordinance that would make sure all recipients of lawsuit settlements from the city would first be subject to an indebtedness check by the comptroller. 

The action was one of several additional matters brought forth to the City Council from its finance committee, including the passage of and extensions to tax increment financing (TIF) districts. 

Pictured: City of Chicago seal. [Screenshot, COC]

Following contentious talks surrounding the City of Chicago’s 2025 fiscal year budget two weeks before its filing deadline, the city’s mayor and alderpeople will reevaluate progress made on the revised budget 1 p.m. Monday.

The update comes after Mayor Brandon Johnson – who anticipated not getting enough votes to pass the upcoming fiscal year’s budget during the Friday City Council meeting – confirmed the council will reconvene on Monday. As of Sunday, news outlets reported recent budget revisions no longer including a controversial $68.5 million property tax hike and cuts to city middle-management types of jobs.

The Chicago City Council approved zoning changes Wednesday that will allow the Chicago Transit Authority to extend the Red Line to the city’s southern border at 130th Street.

A rendering of Sterling Bay's proposed 615 apartment building at 1840-1866 N. Marcey St. in Lincoln Park. (Provided)

A two-tower development that would bring more than 600 apartments to Lincoln Park will have to wait for approval, as it was neither approved or rejected by Chicago’s City Council Wednesday despite a council committee voting against it earlier in the week.

Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over a City Council meeting on Oct. 9, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Finance by a narrow vote approved one half of the city’s budget on Tuesday, a revenue ordinance that includes $256 million in new revenue from sources such as a $68.5 million property tax hike, along with increased taxes and fees on checkout bags, rideshare trips downtown, streaming services, vehicle license transfers and garages and valet parking. 

Later Tuesday, the council budget committee also narrowly approved the mayor’s revised 2025 spending plan, setting up a likely-close final budget vote.

The revenue ordinance (SO2024-001367), approved 14-12, and the appropriation ordinance (SO2024-0013682), approved 17-16, will next go before the City Council for final consideration, which likely will happen Friday after an expected deferral Wednesday.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), one of the sponsors of the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance, is pictured at a City Council meeting in April 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council zoning committee on Monday approved changes to the Northwest Housing Preservation Ordinance, an anti-gentrification and affordable housing protection law that offers tenants the chance to buy their building before it’s sold to a third party.

Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over a City Council meeting on Oct. 9, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Alderpeople on Tuesday will consider the mayor’s revised 2025 budget proposal at two committee meetings, and during the council budget committee meeting alderpeople will consider an ordinance that would start the city budget process earlier in the year and add other transparency measures.

Mayor Brandon Johnson delivers his 2025 budget address on Oct. 30, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Among the Chicago mayor’s budget team’s revised budget proposal, which was presented to some members of the City Council on Friday, are a smaller property tax increase, repurposing of some federal pandemic funds, an expansion of downtown congestion pricing and increased taxes on streaming services, plastic bags and garages and valet parking.

Ald. Andre Vasquez (40) is pictured during a council meeting Oct. 4, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

More than half of the City Council has signed on to an ordinance to make the city’s budget process more public-facing and accessible to residents and alderpeople alike and start the budget process earlier. The legislation was proposed as Mayor Brandon Johnson and the council continue to negotiate a budget proposal that can be approved before the end of the year.

Ald. Matt O'Shea (19) questions Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts during a budget hearing Dec. 4, 2024. [Livestream]

The city Department of Procurement Services (DPS) presented their budget on the last day of city budget hearings Wednesday.

The department’s budget is proposed to decrease by 4.3 percent – from $14.6 million this year to roughly $14 million next year under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2025 budget plan. The number of budgeted positions also is set to decrease by five, or to 131 total positions, according to budget documents.

Ald. Bill Conway (34) asks questions of Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry during a budget hearing Dec. 4, 2024. [Livestream]

Chicago’s law department presented its proposed budget Wednesday on the final day of budget hearings. Discussion centered around the department’s new risk mitigation division and a new crackdown on problematic owners of numerous vacant lots.