Financial Expert Sounds Alarm on the City of Chicago – Facing Budget Gap of More Than a Billion Dollars

 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson at a press conference hosted by Illinois Governor J.B. Priztker / Screenshot: MSNBC

The city of Chicago is facing a serious financial crisis, and while their budget problems are not a secret, at least one financial expert is trying to sound the alarm.

The city is looking at a budget gap of more than a billion dollars. That is as serious as it gets.

Chicago already spends a massive amount of its budget un debt and unfunded liabilities like pensions, but it’s only going to get worse and Mayor Brandon Johnson doesn’t seem to know how to even approach fixing this.

FOX News reports:

Chicago’s teetering debt is stark warning left-wing mayor is fueling ‘pay later’ doom cycle: expert

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration are presiding over a city in serious financial straits.

Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, is facing a corporate fund budget gap of more than $1 billion, while its 2025 fiscal year is projected to close with a roughly $150 million deficit with about two-fifths of the budget going toward debt service and pension costs.

Johnson said in April the city was “at a crossroads” and had to “essentially do more with less,” while simultaneously slamming the Trump administration for reportedly threatening federal funding, calling it a “different scenario we weren’t under before.”

Austin Berg, executive director of pro-taxpayer research group Illinois Policy Institute, said markets are looking at the true numbers and are “really concerned” about Chicago…

“The solution set is always the same: Stop making bad decisions, and you have to put a structure in place to make better decisions,” Berg said.

“So, the bad decisions are things like taking one-time revenues from federal COVID spending and putting it into operations. The bad decisions are borrowing for operations, which this latest bond issue just did. That’s a huge no-no and a red flag for investors.”

This is what decades of one party rule gets you.

Instead of fixing the city’s very real problems, Mayor Johnson and his allies are more interested in going after ICE, protesting Trump, and increasing the power of the very people who are bleeding the city dry.

It won’t end well. Does Mayor Johnson think the federal government is going to bail them out? Not likely.