Analysis: Mayor Lightfoot’s $16.7 Billion Spending Plan


Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a $16.7 billion 2022 budget plan Monday that relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funding to shore up Chicago’s budget gaps, increases police spending and invests in ward-by-ward community programs.

“No one should ever doubt our grit and determination,” Lightfoot said in her budget address Monday. “And I also know, that in this particular time, there are other inescapable truths. Our people are also hurting and in need of continued support and healing.”

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Of the nearly $2 billion in federal pandemic relief provided to the city, Lightfoot proposes to spend $782 million toward 2021 revenue shortfalls.

The proposal also increases police funding in 2022 to $1.9 billion from the $1.7 billion allotted to police the previous year.

Deborah Carroll, director of University of Illinois at Chicago’s Government Finance Research Center, and Ted Dabrowski, president of the conservative-leaning news site Wirepoints, join “Chicago Tonight” with analysis of the 2022 spending plan.


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