If spending $1.9 billion in city funds doesn’t get you excited, maybe a bingo prize will!
By Nalani Saito & India Daniels
Get your very own bingo board and play along! Instructions at the bottom of the page.
Chicago Documenters is thrilled to bring you our second annual round of Chicago City Council Budget Bingo. Tune in Wednesday at 10 a.m. on Twitter for #ChiBudgetBingo, where we’re taking our watchdog ways and enthusiasm for public meetings to bring you commentary throughout the official City Council vote to approve—or not approve—the fiscal year 2022 budget. We’ll tell you how to play at the end of this blog, but first, here’s what you need to know about where Chicago will spend its money next year, whether you’re playing bingo or not.
This year’s budget process, taking place a month earlier than previous years, kicked off on Sept. 24. Over the subsequent two weeks, Chicago City Council members have questioned government agency representatives (from the Chicago Police Department to the Department of Administrative Hearings) about their budget proposals during hearings covered by your very own Chicago Documenters. At each hearing, the departments review their past years’ successes and failures and set the stage for what they want to fund in the next year.
The Chicago Police Department wants more money
CPD’s proposed FY2022 budget is nearly $1.9 billion. To put that in context, as Alder Andre Vasquez (40th) pointed out, that’s nearly the same amount of federal pandemic relief American Rescue Plan funding and about one-fifth of the budget for 37 departments.
But also, citing negative public image and a need to fill vacancies, CPD proposed a $230,000 advertising budget for 2022, a nearly 100-fold increase over last year. Alder Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) proposed an amendment to keep it at $2,400. Despite the huge hiring push, Police Superintendent David Brown admitted that CPD will not be able to fill all sworn officer vacancies next year, and in response, Alder Maria Hadden (49th) proposed an amendment cutting 300 of those positions from the budget, shaving $44 million off CPD’s budget.
Some officers accused of misconduct are still receiving checks
Alder Vasquez asked Supt. Brown a question he’d previously presented to the Police Board: How many officers accused of wrongdoing are still receiving pay? Dana O’Malley, CPD’s lawyer, said that officers have due process rights, and some allegations are still being investigated and have not yet led to officers being taken off the job. “To take every officer and relieve them of power based on allegations ...would leave us with a manpower issue,” O’Malley said.
As Documenter Chloe Vitale pointed out, “If CPD’s general counsel admits that taking every officer who has allegations of misconduct filed against them off the streets would leave CPD with a manpower shortage, what does that say about the sheer volume of Chicago police officers with complaints lodged against them?”
Requests for more police accountability
Along those lines, COPA, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, is requesting $14.7 million for 2022, up from $13.3 million the previous year. A substantial chunk of that funding is to hire personnel, including staff for their video unit and three Freedom of Information Act officers.
This year, City Council passed an ordinance approving an elected police accountability commission. Spearheaded by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety coalition, the ordinance creates a board that would wield power in hiring, firing and approving policy across the Police Board, CPD and COPA. The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability has a proposed budget of $3.4 million, though it doesn’t look like they were part of a budget hearing.
The end of ShotSpotter?
ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection software currently used by CPD whose $33 million contract was renewed in December 2020, came up quite a bit in the CPD hearing, including in many of the 150 written public comments. Alders questioned the decision to renew the contract despite evidence from several sources, including the Office of the Inspector General, that indicates the tool is not helping CPD gather evidence on gun-related crimes.
In fact, during the CPD budget hearing, a group of alders questioned Brown about the contract renewal and whether there were other technologies that could replace it. Brown insisted that the decision around the contract lay with the Office of Public Safety Administration, which Alder Vasquez called “CPD lite.” It looks like Alder Carlos Ramirez-Rosa took that redirect to heart because he introduced an ordinance that would cut a $8,967,998 line item for software maintenance and licensing (read: kill the ShotSpotter contract) from the budget of the Office of Public Safety Administration.
How to spend federal COVID relief funds
There are differing opinions on how to spend American Rescue Plan funding. What Lightfoot proposes is to use a chunk to pay off the city’s $733 million debt. But some alders have different ideas.
Alder Hadden has proposed putting $70 million of ARP funds toward preservation of single-room occupancy projects, a critical source of low-income housing. For context, the budget proposal currently dedicates $32 million of ARP funding for homelessness support services generally.
While Alder Hadden’s plan focuses on housing, Alder Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) has proposed earmarking $10 million of the Department of Public Health’s ARP funds for reinvestment in city-run mental health clinics. Twenty-five other alders have signed on to co-sponsor this ordinance.
And some 🔥 music
Last, but certainly not least, we will say the Committee on Budget and Government Operations supplied a fire playlist while waiting to meet quorum. Hits included “You’re the Only One” by Eric Benet, “You Make Me Feel Brand New” by The Stylistics, “ABC 123” by Tune-Yards and “Who Let the Dogs Out?” by Baha Men. Alder Pat Dowell (3rd) gave a shout out to the elusive DJ: “I specifically want to thank my man Michael Smith up there and his great music,” and despite our preliminary digging, we have not found the Michael Smith to appropriately credit. Michael, if you’re out there, thank you and we hope to see you at the City Council meeting.
Will the alders’ proposed amendments make it through? Will the budget pass? Will sparks fly? Tune into Budget Bingo on Wednesday, Oct. 27th at 10 a.m. to see how it shakes out.
Here’s how to play:
Pull up your bingo board—this link will give you your very own randomized bingo board, with squares thought up by City Bureau’s staff.
Tune into the @ChiDocumenters live-tweet thread for updates and follow along with the City Council live-stream. Let us know you’re playing by tagging us on Twitter and using the hashtag, #ChiBudgetBingo.
Mark off boxes as they happen (click on a square to check it off or download your card). The ChiDocumenters Twitter account will have the official say on which boxes you get to check, so keep refreshing.
Win the #ChiBudgetBingo prize–a $30 gift card to Build Coffee–and bragging rights by being the first to email us your winning board at documenters@citybureau.org
Special thanks to The Daily Line for this helpful budget recap!
Read more on the budget from City Bureau here:
Chicago City Council - 2022 City Budget Hearing [Police Board, Chicago Police Department] 10/04/2021
Chicago City Council - Committee on Budget and Government Operations 09/30/2021
https://www.citybureau.org/newswire/2020/11/3/how-did-chicagos-aldermen-vote-on-the-2021-budget
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