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Posted on 04/25/2025 6:27:11 AM PDT by george76
Several major blue cities in the U.S. have been marred by a slate of massive budgetary problems in recent years.
City officials in Chicago and Los Angeles are currently grappling with how to address substantial budget shortfalls. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is struggling with various financial issues across several sectors, with both its school district and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the city’s public transit system, facing massive budget deficits.
Chicago is facing a projected budget gap of nearly $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2026. The city’s budget deficit has largely been exacerbated by soaring pension costs, declining state revenue and rising personnel costs.
“Chicago has infamously bad finances,” Dylan Sharkey, an assistant editor at the Chicago-based think tank Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As far as the budget, it lays out power for the mayor and city councils, so for example, in some [Illinois] cities voters have to approve property tax hikes, and Chicagoans don’t get to do that.”
...
Chicago’s personnel costs, including salaries, benefits, pensions and other expenses for city employees, will consume 63% of the city’s corporate fund in 2025, totaling $3.53 billion
...
Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Monday to create a “working group” of civic organizations, financial experts, labor organizations, local business leaders and elected officials to help tackle the city’s budget gap.
“This executive order is about bringing Chicagoans together so that we can continue the critical work of investing in our people,” Johnson wrote in a press release. “I have confidence in the collective wisdom and expertise of this wide range of stakeholders that will generate sustainable solutions to the challenges in front of us.”
Illinois had $10,915 in pension liabilities per capita at the end of 2022, according to a December 2024 report from the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank.
“When a city is in financial jeopardy, the state usually plays a role in helping out in the long term,” Sharkey told the DCNF. “But, unfortunately for Chicago, Illinois is broke too. A lot of it has to do with our [Illinois’] pension spending.”
Chicago residents have also faced a variety of struggles under Johnson’s leadership, including rampant crime and a massive migrant housing crisis. Recent polling has shown that Johnson’s approval rating among Chicagoans is at an all-time low.
Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during a State of the City address on Monday proposed laying off more than 1,600 government workers to close her city’s growing budget gap. The city’s budget crisis has notably been worsened by costly litigation, wildfire relief expenses and large pay raises for city employees.
“Los Angeles has one unique problem relative to other blue cities which is it is suffering from the aftereffects of the wildfires in January,” Marc Joffe, a visiting fellow at the California Policy Center, told the DCNF.
Relatedly, Los Angeles is grappling with a widening budget deficit. Los Angeles’ City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo warned during a March 19 city council meeting that the city’s budget gap is projected to reach nearly $1 billion dollars for fiscal year 2025-2026.
“Blue cities do tend to spend a lot of money on a lot of different things, including DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], so maybe there is something there for them [the City of Los Angeles] to cut [out of the budget],” Joffe told the DCNF.
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While Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said in a March 13 press release that her city’s finances “remain stable,” she added that her city’s financial situation is facing “heightened risks.”
The School District of Philadelphia is facing a projected budget deficit of roughly $300 million for fiscal year 2026, WHYY reported. The school district is planning to use 40% of its reserve fund to cover the budget shortfall, according to the outlet.
The district’s budget gap has largely been exacerbated by decades of underfunding and rising costs, such as expenses related to charter school payments and employee salaries.
SEPTA has also been facing massive budget problems in recent years, with SEPTA officials warning in a September 2023 presentation that the public transit service could head into a “death spiral” if it does not receive more state funding.
Scott Sauer, SEPTA’s interim general manager, warned during an April 16 city council meeting that the mass transit system is facing a $213 million budget deficit beginning on July 1, NBC10 Philadelphia reported.
The transit agency released a budget proposal on April 10 that would require 45% in service cuts, sizable fare increases, workforce reductions and a 9 p.m. curfew for all rail services to address its massive budget deficit, claiming that it is facing the budget shortfall due to a combination of the end of federal COVID-19 relief funding and increases in the day-to-day costs of providing service to customers.
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Had Harris cheated her way to a win, billions of federal bailout money would now be flowing to those corrupt and incompetent Democrat cities.
💰💰💰
We sure dodged a bullet there.
You betcha.
Just read yesterday that the “genius” Mayor of Chicago is moving forward on reparations to Black residents. I guess Brandon thinks there is still a pot-of-gold hiding somewhere in the city.
Quite true.
On the Brink of Collapse? 12 States With the Highest Debt in the U.S.
https://wealthynickel.com/on-the-brink-of-collapse-12-states-with-the-highest-debt-in-the-u-s/
I was surprised to see Alaska on the list. Every other state is BLUER than BLUE, therefor...
They fully expect DC to bail them out.
Our money for them to keep destroying the cities.
Had Harris cheated her way to a win, billions of federal bailout money would now be flowing to those corrupt and incompetent Democrat cities.
(Public employee unions) * [(bigger budgets in response to failure) + (graft)] = (chronic shortfalls)
>>create a “working group” of civic organizations, financial experts, labor organizations, local business leaders and elected officials to help tackle the city’s budget gap.
I see “taxpayers” don’t have a seat at the table in this “working group”.
Chicago owes reparations because of its history as Slave Capitol of the South. Or something.
Hard-working taxpayers money confiscated only to be wasted by evil, republic destroying individuals in government.
Every single dilapidated, filthy, crime-ridden, drug-infested, poverty-stricken, corrupt, bankrupt $hithole has been run by democrats for 50-plus years....
They have little to no foresight - plus they believe Uncle Sugar will come to their rescue with printed-up federal dollars.
Hope Trump tells them NO.
I call bogus on this list. Illinois as Number 10? We clearly have a firm grip on the Number 1 spot!
All of these state use BS accounting tricks to hide the true nature of their debt. Trick that would be illegal in the private sector. The real numbers are much higher.
Yep. St. Louis just elected another female democrat after the preivious female democrats couldn’t do her job. Talk about insanity. Doing the same thing over and over hoping for different results.
They go begging to fedgov for aid so that more fiscally responsible folks will be tapped to pay for their largess.
When they dont get it, if repubs are in charge, its their fault as they “hate people”. If dems are in charge and wont, its that the repub minority is blocking it, because they “hate people”.
> Illinois had $10,915 in pension liabilities per capita
And the actual people paying for that - say households with > $100K income - are a MUCH smaller pool.
Dem strategy for getting others to bail them out: pay my bills or else you hate people.
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