Deborah Witzburg during last year’s budget hearing. [Erin Hegarty/The Daily Line] 

The first full day of Chicago departmental budget hearings will kick off Tuesday with a joint hearing of the Office of Inspector General, Civilian Office of Police Accountability, Chicago Police Board and the Board of Ethics.

Hearings are set to begin at 10 a.m. in City Council chambers.

Cook County Comm. Alma Anaya (D-7) attends Board President Toni Preckwinkle's 2024 budget address on Oct. 5, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Cook County commissioners will vote on a measure to exclude solar energy systems from some property tax assessments and conduct a hearing on staffing at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System during committee meetings Tuesday.

For the second joint departmental budget hearing of the day, the License Appeal Commission and Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection will defend their proposed 2024 budgets.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday announced plans for the inaugural citywide composting program. Johnson will not be part of a delegation set to travel to the country’s southern border Tuesday. And the City Council approved the re-referral of dozens of new proposals on Monday. 

After tense discussions among the City Council and after Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered the main portion of the City Council’s public gallery cleared due to chants and yelling interrupting Friday’s meeting, the City Council approved a resolution introduced by Ald. Debra Silverstein (50), Chicago’s only Jewish alderperson, condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Ald. Emma Mitts (37) attends Mayor Brandon Johnson's budget address on Oct. 11, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line] 

Alderpersons heard about the city’s short- and long-term efforts to respond to historic flooding this past summer and mitigate future flood disasters during a joint meeting of the City Council Committee on Public Safety and Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy Friday.

The city’s West Side suffered a deluge of torrential rain over the Fourth of July weekend, flooding basements and causing severe damage to homes.

Budget hearings on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed 2024 spending plan will kick off Monday, but not until after the City Council holds its fourth meeting in a week’s time to finally shake free from the rules committees dozens of proposals sent there earlier this month. 

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle delivers her 2024 budget address on Oct. 5, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Members of the public and stakeholders in various organizations that have benefited from county programs participated in public hearings Thursday to call for continued funding for those programs, including ones with limited one-time allocations. 

The public hearings took place during meetings of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee. 

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) oversees Thursday’s meeting of the zoning committee. [City of Chicago livestream]

The City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards delayed votes on large development proposals on Thursday.

The City Council will hold a special meeting Friday. A joint committee hearing on the city’s response to flooding is also set for Friday. And the council’s ethics committee on Thursday discussed previously published reports by the Office of Inspector General.

Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed his first budget Wednesday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Brandon Johnson is proposing a $16.6 billion spending plan for 2024 with plans to forgo a property tax increase, create a standalone Department of Environment and provide funding to begin reopening city mental health clinics. 

Johnson’s budget proposal includes $150 million to support migrants and a proposal to disband the Department of Assets, Information and Services in favor of two separate departments — the Department of Technology and Innovation and the Department of Fleet and Facility Management. 

The mayor proposed his first-ever budget Wednesday, telling City Council members and Chicagoans his spending plan will “ensure that every resident of this City can thrive in peace and prosperity, connected to all the amenities and resources they need.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson delivers his first budget address on Oct 11, 2023. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Brandon Johnson used his 2024 budget address Wednesday to announce the creation of several new city departments, some of which have existed in the past but had been dissolved or consolidated. 

One of the most notable pieces of Johnson's budget is the reestablishment of the Department of Environment, a long-awaited announcement for advocates who have pointed to a lack of enforcement actions since the city's environment department was eliminated a decade ago by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The department’s resurrection was one of Johnson’s campaign promises. 

A rendering of the building proposed for 200-208, 222 N. Halsted St. in the 27th Ward. [City of Chicago presentation]

A proposal to build a 36-story building with more than 400 residential units near the intersection of Lake and Halsted streets on the Near West Side will go before the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards on Thursday.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9) speaks during a City Council meeting Wednesday. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Committees and Rules and the full City Council met immediately after Mayor Brandon Johnson gave his budget speech Wednesday to re-refer dozens of measures mostly banished to the committee last week by Ald. Anthony Beale (9).   

But a disgruntled Beale teamed up with Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) to defer and publish the ordinances and resolutions, forcing another delay on sending the proposals to their proper committees.

Mayor Brandon Johnson during a City Council meeting. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Brandon Johnson will unveil his first budget proposal as mayor Wednesday morning as the city continues to grapple with how it will pay for shelter and services for migrants while also funding services and programs to meet the needs of all Chicagoans.