Emanuel defends smaller property tax rebate; mum on Lucas museum

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he would have preferred having the Illinois General Assembly double the homeowners exemption, but a city rebate certain to provide far less property tax relief to far fewer people is the next best thing.

The mayor made no apologies for his inability to follow through on his promise to hold the owners of homes worth less than $250,000 “harmless” from a $588 million property-tax hike approved last fall for police and fire pensions and school construction.

Instead, Emanuel pinned the blame squarely on two things: the city’s decision to grossly under-fund police and fire pensions, and the marathon state budget stalemate triggered by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s demand for pro-business, anti-union reforms.

“For years, the city was inattentive and there was no action when it came to pensions for our police and fire. Rather than addressing the issue, the city, by ignoring it, allowed it to become a big challenge. I’m proud that we, as a city, finally stepped up and addressed our pensions and funded them,” the mayor said.

“I would like to have seen the homeowner exemption extended, but we were going to have a back-up plan in case Springfield disappointed everybody. They not only disappointed everybody by vetoing [a police and fire pension bill]… They disappointed us by not passing the homeowner’s exemption because I said we were gonna do it, but do it in a way that was fair … to all homeowners.”

Emanuel refused to say how he would fund the rebate that, he can only hope, will provide at least some measure of relief to homeowners until state lawmakers get around to doubling the homeowners’ exemption from $7,000 to $14,000.

Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1st), who has crafted one of the four pending rebate plans, is pushing for a tax on paper bags that retailers have demanded ever since the City Council approved a partial ban on plastic bags two years ago.

The overall price tag for the rebate will range from $10.4 million to $50 million, depending on which plan to City Council chooses.

According to an analysis prepared by the city’s Office of Budget and Management, the average rebate will range from $100 to $195, depending on which of four pending options the aldermen choose. With varying income limits and $160,000 the most generous, as few as 100,000 households would benefit. Renters could be in line for an average break of $254 — if they are even included.

The average increase, on the other hand, is estimated at 13 percent, or about $413, for a single-family home with a sale price of $225,000, according to tax rate figures released this week. Just over half of that 13 percent increase is tied to city government.

The mayor touched on a host of other subjects after joining Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz at a groundbreaking ceremony for the hockey team’s new practice facility on the site of the old Malcolm X College.

— Emanuel said the fact that controversial police commander Glenn Evans can no longer be fired because the Independent Police Review Authority inadvertently allowed the five-year statute of limitations to run out underscores the need for police disciplinary cases to be wrapped up more quickly.

The mayor all but absolved IPRA chief Sharon Fairley for dropping the ball, arguing that the long-running case pre-dates Fairley’s tenure.

“The obvious question is not Sharon, but it’s the question of why want to see from both sides—both police officers, but also the public and the community—a quicker resolution to the individual cases,” Emanuel said.

— The mayor dodged questions on whether he has or is working toward an elusive deal with Friends of the Parks to allow movie mogul George Lucas to build his $743 million museum on Soldier Field’s south parking lot. But on the day when speculation about a deal was fueled by the decision to postpone yet another court hearing on the Friends of the Parks lawsuit, the mayor left little doubt that he is still hoping for and working toward a deal that will pave the way for more lakefront parkland.

“That parking lot as a museum with open space would be a great contribution to the city and it’s the city’s future and an economic opportunity and an educational opportunity for everybody,” the mayor said.

“In addition, I believe we can achieve common goals of open lands — not just in our park system, but on our lakefront — so that we have a win-win situation. … I’m committed to working through [providing] people a way to do that.”

Emanuel’s chat with the media ended with the mayor walking away as a reporter tried to get his reaction to fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s bitter complaint that Emanuel “didn’t even have the balls” to sign the letter outlining the date and terms of McCarthy’s separation. Emanuel fired McCarthy in a face-to-face meeting on Dec. 1, arguing that his only police superintendent had become a “distraction” in the furor over the Laquan McDonald shooting video.