By its sheer size, the city of Chicago’s annual budget is a large and complicated document. With nearly $6 billion in total resources, it is presented in a four-volume set of binders to city council. But even for aldermen, understanding the budget can be a challenge.
When Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon (24th) was elected last year, she wanted to know how to read the city budget. Even before she took office, she stayed up late nights trying to understand it, she said, and sought people out to learn how things worked, including Ald. Helen Shiller (46th).
“There is no manual for being an alderman,” Dixon said. “You think you know, but there are so many moving parts.”
Acknowledging the steep learning curve, Dixon said she also wants to learn more about TIF’s (Tax Increment Financing) to address the many challenges Lawndale residents face with below-average incomes, high numbers of uninsured and a lack of jobs.
Shiller has made it a priority to understand the city’s budget and has spent many hours of her 20 years in office doing so. For the third year in a row, Shiller shared her knowledge at a city budget forum hosted by the Chicago Foundation for Women.
“People often get cynical because they can’t understand budgets,” Shiller said at this week’s forum. “But it takes a lot of work to understand a complex budget like this one.”
For full story: http://www.creatingcommunityconnections.org/node/3140
Friday, February 1, 2008
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