Sun-Times:
Faced with a “tsunami” of teacher pension costs, Chicago public school officials want to raise city property taxes by $43 million, or 1.5 percent, a new budget released today indicates.
The hike would mean an $18 increase on a typical Chicago home valued at $262,000 — far less than the $77 increase the system could have assessed by taxing to the maximum allowed, said Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman.
Despite an ailing economy that has taken a bite out of most households, some help from property owners is needed to fill a $475 million budget hole — the largest in at least a decade, Huberman said.
And, he warned, even worse news is ahead. The next budget deficit, in fiscal year 2011, could top $900 million — a hole so big the system would have to increase class sizes and eliminate teachers unless “cost containment on the pension and wage fronts’’ is achieved, Huberman said.
Greg Hinz has more:
In addition to the tax hike, Mr. Huberman said the district hopes Gov. Pat Quinn will sign a bill now on his desk that would speed up the property tax billing system.
Under current law, landowners pay roughly half of their total bill in the spring and the rest in the fall, with the latter including any increase for the year. Under the measure awaiting gubernatorial action, 55% of the bill would be paid in the first half of the year, a one-time revenue shift that Mr. Huberman said would give CPS an additional $85 million for fiscal 2010, which began on July 1.
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