Following the success of last year’s Budget Blog, which provided a relatively succinct way to communicate with residents about the complicated topic of the City Budget, 1st Ward Staff are once again maintaining a blog about the budget.

Due to the ongoing projected budget gaps faced by the City, the narrow vote associated with the 2025 Budget, and the feedback of 1st Ward residents about the City’s financial situation, the 2025 Budget Blog will run throughout the year. Archived budget content is featured at the bottom of the page.

2026 Budget Season

On Thursday, October 16, 2025, Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered his annual budget address. The 2026 proposed budget is available here. To clear this page and make it more readable, previous materials have been archived in convenient groups (2025 Budget season; Budget Blog follow-ups; and other topical discussions, such as Chicago Public Schools budget, Treasurer statements, and pension documents).

NEW Budget Blog: 2026 Budget: What’s Going On?

Budget Hearings
The Committee on Budget and Government Operations hosted host hearings on each department’s proposed budget between Tuesday, October 21 and Thursday, November 13. Recordings of each hearing are available here.

Budget Blogs
The 1st Ward Office is working on research to prepare for 2026 Budget season, and that includes three budget blogs that relate to the City’s comprehensive audit for 2024 (released summer 2025); a brief note on further understanding the City’s municipal bonds; and a discussion of the City’s use of Tax Incrementing Financing (TIF) surplus as the Chicago Public Schools recently passed a budget that fails to reimburse the City for municipal pensions costs and also will ostensibly rely on the City Council to pass a substantial TIF surplus.

Click the image to open the 2026 budget recommendations file

Archive

Where do we go from here? Pensions and Budget History
The following content has been archived into a single document:

  • Several blogs on debt, bonds, and historical surveys of services in the budget (2004 - 2025)

  • Several blogs on workforce vacancy data, including persistent vacant job titles in 2025.

  • A blog on tax increment financing, and another blog on the comprehensive financial audit.

Original Budget Blog: 2025 Budget season
The following content has been archived into a single document:

  • Explaining the budget gap and revenue (October 2024)

  • Material on improving budget forecasts, structural vacancies, and Finance General.

Archived: March 12, 2025
The following content has been archived into a single document:

  • Infrastructure bond analysis (February City Council vote)

  • City Treasurer Statement (February 7, 2025)

Archived: April 22, 2025
The following content has been archived into a single document:

  • Chicago Public Schools pension payment update

  • Reading pension documents