The Sun Times (Fran Spielman) links the shortfall to a depressed real estate market, Shakman and Jon Burge.
Exacerbating the problem is the $12 million fund created to compensate victims of the city’s rigged hiring system and $13 million in legal fees paid over the last 18 months as a result of federal corruption investigations, the long-running Shakman case and the police torture case against former Lt. Jon Burge.
Bernard Stone thinks he has the answer.
Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) said he’s not at all convinced that a property tax increase is inevitable. Instead, Stone wants the city to do an inventory of what he believes is more than $1 billion worth of surplus land, then sell it off at a public auction that would get the property back on the tax rolls.
“Nobody in this city has any concept of how many parcels of real estate we own. Some if it is very valuable. You’ve got pieces of land worth millions sitting idle. You’ll not only bring in enough to cover the shortfall. You’ll bring in a big surplus,” he said.
I also found a blurb on ABC7's site and it too only speaks to the second mandatory unpaid furlough day being offered as a fix.
When I went to Craine's Chicago Business I found a part of this story no one in the mainstream media cared to report:
The city recently projected a $217-million hole in its yet-to-be-unveiled 2008 budget, much higher than usual. The city also reported that its unobligated cash balance has dropped to less than 1% of spending, and that the ratio of assets to liabilities in its pension funds continues to drop.
How much money did they "bank" in the Skyway lease deal?
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