(Bloomberg) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has asked city departments to look into cutting vacant positions and consider scaling back some projects as he tries to solve the budget crisis.
Department heads were asked to examine their vacancies and evaluate how cutting those jobs would work as well as their impact, according to Cristina Pacione-Zayas, the mayor’s chief of staff. Chicago has already halted hiring, and Johnson delayed his budget announcement by two weeks as he tries to find ways to fill a gap of nearly $223 million this year and another $982 million shortfall next year.
“The mayor has always said everything is on the table,” Pacione-Zayas said in an interview on Wednesday after the city council meeting. “They were asked to look across their department. There had been some analysis done in terms of vacancies.”
The first-term mayor is grappling with how to meet his progressive campaign promises, including not raising property taxes, while revenue in the nation’s third-largest city comes in below forecasts. At the same time, the mayor has been fighting with the head of the Chicago Public Schools as the district refuses to make a pension payment, dealing an unexpected blow to the city’s budget.
The city’s total number of full-time equivalent positions dipped in 2021 but at the end of 2023 stood at 36,420, slightly lower than the 36,970 in 2010, according to bond documents. Overall personnel costs are still higher because of contract and wage increases as well as pensions, according to the bond documents.
No decision has been made on the cuts, according to Pacione-Zayas. The mayor is expected to release his spending plan on Oct. 30. The administration also analyzed some programs started under previous administrations to see if they still make sense and align with the resources available and Johnson’s priorities, Pacione-Zayas said.
“The departments are subject matter experts,” said Pacione-Zayas. “They also understand that when you do make cuts you have operational considerations and specifically mission critical operational considerations.”
Crain’s Chicago Business earlier reported on the administration’s ask to departments.
Cutting workers will put Johnson, who was propelled into office by the Chicago Teachers Union, at odds with labor groups. About 90% of the city government’s workforce is unionized.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will oppose a budget plan that includes job cuts, Anders Lindall, the union’s spokesperson, said in an emailed statement.
“The city workforce has already been reduced to the point that many if not most departments are critically short of staff,” Lindall said. “Further reductions to the workforce — whether through layoffs or failing to fill vacancies — can only hurt the services that residents rely on. The solution to the budget question cannot be damaging cuts.”
Johnson’s administration is meeting with department heads, city council members and labor leaders to “discuss all options” to address the budget gap, LaKesha Gage-Woodard, a mayoral spokesperson, said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
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