CHICAGO (AP) — New Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wasted no time getting to work on his first full day in office, announcing $75 million in cuts to the city's current budget on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama's former chief of staff took
over as Chicago's first new mayor in 22 years when he was sworn in Monday to
replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley, who didn't seek a seventh term
Emanuel had promised during the campaign that he
would rein in the city's spending because of a projected budget deficit for
next year that's estimated at between $500 million and $700 million.
Emanuel's cuts include reducing the senior
management payroll by 10 percent within two months. He told reporters at a
press conference the city could save $5.5 million by lowering salaries,
reducing the number of senior staff jobs or doing a combination of both.
"The 10 percent, non-negotiable," Emanuel
said. The current city budget totals about $8.2 billion, which includes about
$1.9 billion in state and federal grant money, officials said.
Other measures to get to the $75 million in savings
include merging overlapping work in departments and cutting the number of city
vehicles because some were driven less than 4,000 miles last year. Reducing the
number of cars and replacing older vehicles with more fuel-efficient ones can
save the city $1.5 million. Emanuel also wants to chip away $3 million by
reducing the use of outside lawyers and relying on in-house city attorneys.
Emanuel also said he's hoping Chicago's largest law firms will give the city
reduced rates or offer some free legal services.
Emanuel's plans call for better coordinating city
construction and street repairs to save $5 million and improving the management
of state and federal grants to save as much as $31.2 million. He said the city
has had to use tax dollars to fill in funding gaps when grants were poorly
managed or not spent. Another $500,000 in savings could come from putting 60
injured workers back to work in less physically demanding roles to save money
on worker compensation costs.
"These $75 million worth of immediate savings
to the 2011 budget are only the beginning," he said. "They pave the
way to a leaner budget for the 2012 fiscal year and they also send, in my view,
an unmistakable message: I'm committed to stabilizing the city's finances in
order to secure Chicago's long-term economic future."
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
