Lightfoot agrees to raise aldermanic expense allowance

Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed Monday to raise the annual aldermanic expense — from $97,000 to $122,000 — to appease aldermen demanding more staff for their ward offices and build support for her 2020 budget.

Instead of budgeting $4.85 million for the annual aldermanic expense allowance, the city will spend $6.1 million — about a 26% increase. The additional $1.25 million will come from unspecified spending cuts and revenue increases, officials said, as the City Council’s Budget Committee approved the mayor’s $11.65 billion spending plan.

“It sends a very bad message at a time when we’re talking about zero-based budgeting and trying to tighten our belts so we’re not coming back to taxpayers,” said Ald. Ray Lopez (15^th).

Rookie Ald. Andre Vasquez (40^th) was not the prime mover behind the increase, but he made no apologies for it.

“The ward office is certainly under-staffed in comparison to … the committees or even the mayor adding more staff,” Vasquez said.

“You get a general budget, which allows for three full-timers. And you’re ... able to stretch it and make two part-timers work. But it isn’t enough. You have to supplement with other funds that you’re able to raise … and try to find interns and volunteers to make up the deficit.”

Yet another alderman, who asked to remain anonymous, described the $25,000-per-ward-increase as “crumbs to be bought off” to support the mayor’s budget.

Aldermen who have accepted annual cost-of-living increases receive an annual salary of $122,304.

The $97,000 aldermanic expense allowance is used to rent ward offices, lease vehicles, pay utility bills and hire part-time staffers.

When indicted Ald. Edward Burke (14^th) was still chairing the City Council’s Finance Committee, clout-heavy aldermen also drew funding to hire additional staffers from a $1.3 million pool administered by Burke.

During City Council budget hearings, aldermen criticized Lightfoot for increasing spending for the mayor’s office by 40 percent — to $13.1 million and 109 employees.

The mayor ultimately agreed to shave $1.3 million from that increase by eliminating 11 new staffers without impacting violence prevention, risk management, equity and sustainability.

But aldermen nevertheless used the opportunity to push for an increase for themselves.

They started by demanding an additional $50,000-apiece, at a cost of $2.5 million.

Lightfoot ultimately agreed to split the difference.

The mayor’s office said it has “consistently heard from aldermen that additional staff are needed on the ground in their communities” during “working groups” held in recent weeks.

By proposing an additional $25,000 for each of the 50 wards, the city is “empowering aldermen to choose between hiring an additional position to enhance constituent services or funding programming, dependent on the needs they see in their wards,” the mayor’s office said.

Aldermanic staffs have “not seen a funding increase” in years, officials said.

“Resident services remain a top priority in the 2020 budget. Working with aldermen, our administration is committed to ensuring that resident voices are heard, in part, with additional funds to support our collective goal of ensuring that neighborhood service needs are addressed in every ward,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.

Over the years, aldermen have come under fire for using their annual expense allowance to hire relatives, lease luxury cars and SUVs and hire media consultants.

Yet another budget amendment advanced Monday would save $1.9 million by eliminating former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s highly-touted, but slow-starting Infrastructure Trust.

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to bust the Trust, which has invaded the turf of the Lightfoot-chaired Public Building Commission.

Another change would raise the salary of Chicago Fire Commissioner Richard C. Ford II — from $202,728 to $217,728. That’s a 7.3% increase.

The deputy city treasurer would get a 19.6% increase — from an annual salary of $101,628 to $121,560.

The Department of Aviation, already loaded with six-figure deputies, would get a $126,500-a-year deputy commissioner for construction to ride herd over the massive O’Hare Airport expansion program.

The Police Board gets an additional $562,000 to spend on “professional and technical services” as it embarks on a nationwide search for a permanent replacement for retiring Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

And the Department of Public Health gets three more community outreach coordinators and two more nurse practitioners to assist with Lightfoot’s plan to bolster mental health services without re-opening any of the six clinics shuttered by Emanuel.