Chicago, and Illinois as a whole, has not been known for its fiscal jurisprudence. That lack of spending money wisely is now coming to bite them back hard in the form of a budget shortfall for next year, in large part thanks to the city's dedication to being a sanctuary city.
The Chicago-Sun Times reports Chicago is looking at a $538 million budget shortfall in 2024, with over $200 million of it tied to expenses Chicago is paying for the unending number of processed and released migrants arriving to the city:
The dramatically higher shortfall was revealed the same day the Council’s Budget Committee slapped another $33 million federal Band-Aid on the migrant crisis — enough to cover only a few months of past and future spending...Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) called the $33 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security a 'drop in the bucket' for a migrant crisis that will have cost Chicago taxpayers $255.7 million by year’s end. It will likely top $300 million after Johnson forges ahead with his plan to move more than 2,000 asylum-seekers from Chicago police stations and O’Hare and Midway airports into giant tent cities.
For every "winterized" camp the city builds and operates, it could add another $5 million in spending each month. The camps are being proposed to get the hundreds of people out of the temporary shelters at police stations.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said during an interview earlier this month "scarifies" would have to made for all parts of the city in order to live up to its progressives values.
"If we do not act in this moment, if we do not live out our values and our principles as a city, the type of chaos that will break out as a result of not having any action will cost the city much more," Johnson said.
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