Daley's 'Parking Meter' Budget Passes

What was striking about the budget vote was 12 city council members voted against the budget ostensibly because of the use of these rainy day funds to make the budget work, according to a piece by Mick Dumke on the Reader's website.

38th ward alderman Tom Allen, had strong words about the budget.

"First and foremost," he said, "the parking meter spending plan here I consider to be a breach of our fiduciary duties to the taxpayers that we represent."

But Allen seems to have been betrayed or even fooled by the Mayor and his staff.

He said aldermen were promised that the administration would save enough of the proceeds that the interest on them would equal or exceed the $20 million the city was accustomed to collecting from the meters. Instead, Daley's budget will burn through two-thirds of the replacement fund in a single year.

"We have lost the replacement money," Allen said. "You cannot break a contract in 12 months that is supposed to last for 75 years. It is unconscionable, irresponsible, and it is disingenuous."

Read Dumke's piece, "Aldermen duel over TIFs, parking meters, spending, and the brainwashing powers of the media," here.

Also, Sun-Times city hall  reporter Fran Spielman also has good coverage of the budget vote entitled, "City Hall approves Daley's budget plan to drain reserves."