Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday issued a freeze on hiring government workers in order to make up a near billion-dollar shortfall in the city budget for next year, The Chicago Tribune reported.
The freeze is meant to cover a $982.4 million budget gap projected for fiscal year 2025, pending approval from the city’s aldermen when Johnson proposes the budget in October, according to The Chicago Tribune. The deficit mostly comes from “rising personnel, pension and contractual costs, alongside ongoing revenue challenges,” Chicago Budget Director Annette Guzman said in a statement Monday, according to ABC 7.
“Effective today, we are enacting a series of budgetary restrictions, including a citywide hiring freeze and stringent limitations on non-essential travel and overtime expenditures outside of public safety operations,” Guzman said, according to The Chicago Tribune.
It was not specified if Chicago police or fire department positions would be affected by the freeze, according to The Chicago Tribune. Details on how the city will make up the shortfall aside from the freeze were not given.
Johnson previewed his plans in August to enact the budget cuts for fiscal year 2025 while also projecting a $223 million budget deficit for the end of 2024, according to a city press release. The 2024 shortfall is driven by a decline in state personal property replacement tax revenue and the city “not receiving the budgeted $175 million reimbursement for pension contributions for Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) non-teacher staff,” which the CPS usually pays every year for the city paying out pensions.
“The forecasted budget gap is a clear indication of the financial pressures facing the City of Chicago,” Guzman said in the August press release. “It also highlights the critical need for structural solutions that address these challenges not just for the coming year, but for the future. We will continue to explore all options to close this gap while minimizing impact on essential services and making prudent investments in our city’s future.”
In 2019, former Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also enacted a hiring freeze when she was faced with a budget shortfall, according to The Chicago Tribune.
Johnson’s Office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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