Chicago’s Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar speaks during a meeting Tuesday. [City of Chicago livestream]

The proposed new Department of Environment will detail its first budget — set at $1.8 million — to alderpeople on Thursday. Also during budget hearings Thursday, the Department of Water Management will explain the proposed 3.5 percent increase to its budget and the Department of Transportation will defend its $1.48 billion budget for 2024.

County Sheriff Tom Dart presents his office's 2024 budget during a hearing Wednesday. [Livestream]

Cook County commissioners heard from Sheriff Tom Dart about the vacancies within his office, the ongoing procurement process to obtain a helicopter to combat carjackings and various social and health programs carried out by the office during a Wednesday budget hearing.

CPD Supt. Larry Snelling addresses alderpeople on Tuesday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Alderpeople on Tuesday prodded at Mayor Brandon Johnson’s nearly $2 billion budget for the Chicago Police Department, quizzing Supt. Larry Snelling about the creation of 398 new civilian positions within the department, where he stands on a plan to send clinicians to mental health calls instead of police, and why a helicopter included in the 2023 budget still hasn’t landed in the city.  

Snelling took the hotseat for more than eight hours during a budget hearing less than one month after the City Council confirmed his appointment to lead the police department. 

Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha is pictured at a COVID-19 vaccine event in 2021.

Cook County commissioners asked representatives from the county’s health and hospitals system about ongoing employment vacancies and Medicaid redetermination trends during a budget hearing Tuesday.

Leaders of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, Department of Buildings, Animal Care and Control and other smaller offices on Wednesday will all defend proposed increases to their budgets for 2024.

Office of Public Safety Administration Executive Director Annastasia Walker is questioned by Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48) during a budget hearing Monday. [Livestream]

Alderpeople during a budget hearing Monday heard from leaders from the Office of Public Safety Administration (PSA) about surveillance camera installations in their wards, the civilianization of timekeeping staff and overall technological upgrades within the city’s police and fire departments.

CFD Comm. Annette Nance-Holt answers questions on Monday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

The Chicago Fire Department held its first exam for prospective employees since 2014 last year. While 15,000 people signed up to take the exam, 4,210 people took the exam and 2,100 passed. The city expects to hire the first round of employees from last year’s exam by the end of this year, department Comm. Annette Nance-Holt told alderpeople on Monday. 

Nance-Holt answered questions from alderpeople about her department’s diversity and hiring during a budget hearing Monday. 

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling when his appointment was approved in September. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Just four days after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration and the union that represents rank-and-file police officers announced they had agreed to a contract extension that doubles officers’ pay raises to 5 percent for the next two years, leaders of the department will defend the $91.3 million, or 4.8 percent, hike in their budget proposed for 2024.  

Cole Stallard speaks during a budget hearing Friday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

The Department of Streets and Sanitation’s 2024 budget is proposed to grow by 10.6 percent, up to $344.7 million, and alderpeople on Friday largely heaped praise on Comm. Cole Stallard and the department’s work to haul trash, eradicate rats, build up the city’s tree canopy while keeping up with tree maintenance and starting a new composting program. 

Ald. Matt O'Shea (19) asks Chicago Aviation Comm. Jamie Rhee questions during a budget hearing Friday. [Livestream]

Chicago Department of Aviation Comm. Jamie Rhee answered alderpersons’ questions about O’Hare airport’s massive modernization effort and migrant arrivals during a budget hearing Friday evening. 

The aviation department, which manages O’Hare and Midway international airports’ operations, maintenance and capital improvement projects, is set to see its budget balloon to $1.42 billion under Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 spending plan. That represents a more than 23.5 percent increase from 2023’s budget of $1.14 billion.

Aileen Velazquez answers questions during a budget hearing Friday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Echoing comments similar to those offered up during budget hearings past, alderpeople pushed the city’s chief procurement officer Friday to do better in awarding contracts to minority-owned and women-owned firms. 

Alderpeople on Monday are set to hold a hearing on the Office of Public Safety Administration’s budget, which is proposed to drop compared to 2023. On the other hand, both the Office of Emergency Management and Communication and the Chicago Fire Department’s budget are set to grow by 4 percent and about 1 percent respectively in 2024. 

CDPH’s acting Comm. Fikirte Wagaw answered questions Thursday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Chicago’s Department of Public Health is currently seeing a vacancy rate of 42 percent across the department, acting Comm. Fikirte Wagaw told alderpeople during a budget hearing Thursday. 

Several alderpeople raised concern about what they deemed a high vacancy rate in the Department of Public Health (CDPH).

DFSS Comm. Brandie Knazze answers questions from alderpeople on Thursday. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line]

Alderpeople during a budget hearing on Thursday prodded leaders of the Department of Family and Support Services on their proposed new Office of New Arrivals and multiple other initiatives, including a program that offers rapid rehousing for Chicagoans living in encampments. 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle presides over a special county board meeting Oct. 5, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The Cook County Board of Commissioners gave final approval Thursday to a measure that strengthens access to translated election materials for limited-English proficient populations, a measure to mitigate tax increases for some property owners that have installed solar energy infrastructure and a contract increase for a firm providing consulting to the county on federal pandemic relief funds.

Commissioners also introduced measures calling on the federal government to strengthen border security to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.; a measure calling for the county to create a program to promote healthy eating and prioritize equity in food security; and a measure that calls for a hearing on violence and systemic barriers affecting the county’s transgender residents.