BRIDGEPORT — Though Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s bid to hike water and sewer taxes to float the city’s floundering pension fund cleared committee Thursday, Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th) stands by his vote against it.
“Fully funding our pensions for Chicago’s municipal workers is both our moral and legal obligation,” Thompson said in a statement Friday. “But we must pursue this goal in a way that does not solely rely on the same group of taxpayers who are already facing an array of other increased taxes.”
The Emanuel administration originally estimated the tax hike would cost the average homeowner an extra $4.43 a month next year and $19 a month when fully implemented after five years.
But Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown testified Thursday that it would cost the average homeowner $50 a year next year, on top of a $250 increase in property taxes approved by the Board of Education for Chicago Public Schools pensions.
Calling the tax hike an “unreasonable burden,” Thompson said there are other funding alternatives — like video gaming and a sales tax expansion.
“I’m willing to take a tough vote like this to do right by the working men and women of Chicago,” Thompson said, “but we as legislators have to be able to make that serious decision based on the ability to review accurate information, and with adequate time to do so.”
Emanuel pitched the tax hike a month ago, saying it would raise $56 million next year and $239 million per year when fully phased in — money that would go directly to a city employee pension account now estimated to be only 20 percent funded, and projected to be rendered insolvent by 2025.
The pension fund, the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund, covers most city employees not already covered under Police and Fire Department pensions.
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