Chicago, IL – Chicago’s new 2026 budget is now in effect. Despite containing some wins for working-class forces in the city, the final budget was pushed through by corporate-backed alderpersons who succeeded in their primary goal: blocking the corporate tax increase proposed by the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Without such revenue, the final budget package contains a deficit of approximately $163 million, according to the city’s top financial officials. This unbalanced budget, progressive forces warn, may have set the city up for a mid-year budget crisis, while conservative alderpersons deny the deficit.

This is the first budget in Chicago history to be drafted and passed entirely within city council, independently of the city’s finance team. The city finance team has the internal data required to run budget forecasts and the civic obligation to do so. This team, under Mayor Johnson, had put forward a proposal to generate over $80 million in revenue by increasing taxes on the city’s largest corporations. Corporate-backed alderpersons, arguing that this proposal would harm business growth, put forward an independent “alternative budget.”

The opposition’s plan replaced revenue from corporate taxes with alternative measures: new taxes on plastic bags, liquor and gambling; advertising sales on city property; and a plan to sell debt that Chicagoans owe on parking tickets and emergency services to collection agencies.

The city finance team, however, argues that the corporate-backed alderpersons and their consultants have overestimated the amount of revenue these measures will generate.

For example, one new revenue item in the alternative budget is augmented reality advertising. The alternative plan counts on $6 million in revenue by allowing in-game advertising on city property via augmented reality platforms such as Pokémon Go. The Johnson administration rebukes such estimates, arguing that the initiative would require extensive research and would be unlikely to generate revenue gains next year. This is one of many revenue items that the city believes is overestimated, leading them to arrive at the estimate of a $163 million deficit.

Despite these unfavorable projections, the city council passed the alternative budget with a vote of 30 to 18 on Saturday December 20. Johnson then announced on Tuesday, December 23, that he would not veto the budget. “I will not add the risk and speculation of a government shutdown to the profound worries Chicagoans face,” Johnson said.

Mayor Johnson followed this decision with two executive orders to “clarify” the new budget.

The first order was in response to the plan to sell city debt, owed mostly by working-class Chicagoans, to collection agencies, which Johnson called “morally bankrupt.” His order prohibits the city from selling medical debt, including ambulance fees,to third parties. This essentially limits the debt collection schemes to parking violations and other non-medical debts. In his second order, Johnson created more oversight on police overtime spending.

Progressive forces in the city recognized the loss, while reflecting on the wins in this budget. For example, the initial alternative budget proposal on December 2 included slashes to youth job programs and an increase in city garbage collection fees, alongside other regressive measures. In response, working-class organizations and individuals campaigned to call alderpersons and door knock to demand resources for communities and that the budget not be balanced on the backs of working people. The conservative alderpersons revised their proposal to remove these specific measures within days.

“In coalition with community groups and independent political organizations, and led by Mayor Johnson, we forced them to abandon over a quarter of a billion dollars in cuts, fees, and taxes on everyday Chicagoans,” said Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates in a statement on December 21. “That’s more than we’ve won in a budget fight in years, and we won it because we prioritized people, not profiteers.”

What is missing is the revenue. “When the wheels begin to fall off, we expect the mayor to hold the Corporate Caucus accountable,” Davis Gates said.

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #Budget

New Orleans, LA - On November 13, students packed a room to hear about their university’s difficult financial future and anincreasingly bloated and unaccountable administration.

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) and members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) created an exposé highlighting their campaign demanding that Loyola disclose their $250 million endowment fund.

Students were especially frustrated with tuition increases and cuts to their financial aid to bail out the university from its poor financial management.

“Loyola’s plans for the future are not looking great. You can expect tuition to increase from $47,390 to $51,656 and total financial aid to drop by 3%. This is all for what admin has called a ‘premium education’,” said Nadir Benslimane, a Liberate and Unite New Orleans (LUNO) SDS member. “If you think this premium education means more classes and higher paid professors, you’d be wrong. Loyola plans to hire two more vice presidents who will make over $300K, bloating our administration while professors who have worked here for 15 years haven’t ever seen a raise.”

On top of extreme tuition increases, this panel exposed the board of trustees and the corporation that controls the endowment fund and where that fund is invested. “The board of trustees iscomposed of wealthy business owners whose interests do not align with students’ material interests by any means,” said Miu Sims, an SDS member.

The exposé revealed that the university’s “ethical investment statement,” despite pandering to the Jesuit and Catholic values regarding investments, includes a clause that says ethical investing is very hard, and so they are free to do as they wish. The “corporation” is a small group of high-ranking Jesuits who control the board of trustees and have the ultimate say on where the investment fund ends up.

“The corporation excludes all outside perspectives by only hiring Jesuits and those in ‘good standing’ in the Society of Jesus, meaning only men can be on this corporation,” said Mae Guidry, SDS member.

The Jesuit Order has released several statements on the genocide of Palestinians and Pope Francis, a Jesuit, has called Israel a terrorist state. “They [the corporation] claim to represent Jesuit values but only at their convenience and your silence,” continued Mae.

The panelists then explained the retaliation that students have faced for demanding disclosure and exercising free speech and expression. “We’ve been consistently struggling for financial transparency, the right to free expression, and a meeting with admin. Now, two students have been fired for protesting; people are on disciplinary probation, and the administration is consolidating its power to shut down student free speech,” said Nour Saad, president of Loyola MSA.

The panelists concluded with a call to action to sign a letter to the president of Loyola, Xavier Cole, the Loyola board of trustees and the corporation with the following demands: Disclose all investments made by the university; divest from all companies related to Israeli apartheid; rescind all institutional sanctions placed on students related to free speech and expression, including but not limited to protesting, and calling for meetings with relevant university administrators regarding the above demands, including but not limited to President Xavier Cole.

This event served as a way to unite students around disclosure and institutional transparency.

#NewOrleansLA #NOLA #SDS #FreePalestine #LoyolaMSA #Loyola #Budget #Disclose #Divest #BDS #Endowment

Denver, CO – On November 1, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Denver gathered to protest the budget mismanagement by the administration of the Metropolitan State University of Denver.

The event began with a speak-out outside the campus library before the student activists marched on MSU President Janine Davidson’s office for a second round of speakers. Upon arrival, students voiced their demands for a rectification of work-study programs, better treatment of faculty, and a budget prioritizing education.

The main demand voiced by students throughout the event was for MSU to implement a tuition freeze. MSU administration has complained that due to falling enrollment over previous years, they had no choice but to raise tuition for incoming students. SDS believes this strategy only deepens the issue. Higher tuition means that fewer students will be able to attend MSU, leading to even lower enrollment and funding. For this reason, SDS demands that increased funding come from bloated admin salaries, not struggling students.

Additionally, SDS took issue with the evisceration of work-study programs. Speakers voiced concerns over the legality of MSU’s work-study programs, where there are few opportunities, and the existing opportunities are often too far or pay starvation wages. The SDS believes this is not sustainable. Work-study is an essential tenet of all colleges, but especially commuter schools such as MSU, where students are often already in difficult economic situations. If this issue is not rectified, enrollment will continue to drop while MSU is further privatized.

Throughout the march and speak-outs, it was clear the masses of students stand with the SDS. Students stopped to record and join the SDS at the speak-outs and cheered them on along their march. Across campus, students are fed up with the bulk of university funds being steered away from education. Instead of paying admin like Janine Davidson upwards of $500,000 a year, students want to see these funds going to their education.

#DenverCO #Budget #SDS

Milwaukee, WI – On July 6, elected alderpeople of the Milwaukee Common Council hosted a town hall regarding a city sales tax increase and other provisions around Wisconsin Act 12. Members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) participated in the town hall and distributed general information about Act 12 to community members. Alderpeople from the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 15th Districts were present.

The city organized the event to gauge opinion on the potential of a 2% city sales tax increase. An opportunity to implement this sales tax comes from last month's bipartisan Shared Revenue bill (now law, known as Act 12), but the revenue it generates can only be used to pay for the fire and police departments pensions.

Moreover, Act 12 requires the following: having two of the Fire and Police Commission’s (FPC) members be selected by fire and police union members, stripping policy-creating power of the FPC, reinstating cops in public schools, keeping a minimum amount of sworn police officers on duty (which would be required to increase from the current total), and no usage of tax revenue to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the city.

Some alderpeople have expressed staunch disagreement with these provisions and are considering a lawsuit against the state. Alderwoman Milele Coggs opened the financial presentation with comments on how negotiators stonewalled the Milwaukee Common Council input on the sales tax proposal. Budget Director Nik Kovac gave a brief presentation on the options forward. Topics outlined in the presentation included a history of the city budget, projected outcomes for future years, and conditions for the sales tax. Intermittently the alderpeople present spoke to arguments on both sides for the Act 12 sales tax.

The overwhelming input of community members that gave comments suggested the city shouldn’t have to take up the sales tax. Citizens were frustrated, and rightly so, that the city’s biggest stream of revenue would be burdened upon them.

“The sales tax is a Band-Aid on the harm Act 12 has caused Milwaukee, and it will not stop the bleeding for our city,” said Aurelia Ceja, co-chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR).

They and other MAARPR members spoke to the need for revenue streams without these other conditions. Paris Miller, propaganda chair of the Milwaukee Alliance, spoke to the need for city officials to not repeat the same errors in city budget planning that created Milwaukee’s insolvency, such as giving the Milwaukee Police Department an estimated $300 million, a number which continues to climb yearly.

The Milwaukee Common Council will meet on July 11 to vote on the sales tax proposal. 10 of the 15 council members are needed to vote in favor for the proposal to pass. A vote in favor may please the police department, fire department, and city employees who rely heavily on the city’s pension fund. A vote in favor will also risk alienating and angering community members who cannot afford the sales tax and who had little to any participation in negotiations. Members of the Milwaukee Alliance will attend this meeting and continue to voice the community’s dissatisfaction with this proposal.

#MilwaukeeWI #Police #budget