If approved, it would bring the total amount spent by taxpayers in 2025 to compensate those wrongfully convicted based on evidence developed by Chicago police officers to $164.2 million, according to a WTTW News analysis.

A budget forecast for 2026 projects a $1.15 billion deficit for the city, driven by the end of one-time federal pandemic aid and continued uncertainty over pension payments for Chicago Public Schools employees.

Chicago taxpayers paid $295 million between 2019 and 2024 to resolve lawsuits naming officers whose alleged misconduct led more than once to payouts, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News. In all, the city spent $491.7 million to resolve lawsuits alleging 1,643 Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct.

Chicago taxpayers will pay $90 million in the first-ever global settlement of lawsuits tied to a single Chicago police officer, under the agreement approved Thursday, to 180 people who spent nearly 200 years in prison.

The Chicago Police Department spent approximately 7% less on overtime during the first six months of 2025 than it did during the same period in 2024, records show.

“We don’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Wednesday. “That’s why my budget is going to challenge the ultra-rich to pay their fair share in taxes.”

The report offers “89 preliminary options to improve operations, generate new revenue, and pursue strategic opportunities, all while preserving city services” that could add between $1 billion and $2.1 billion to the city’s bottom line.

Even as the financial toll of decades of police misconduct is likely to grow in the coming months, Chicago exhausted its annual budget of $82.2 million months ago and had spent nearly triple that amount by July 31, according to WTTW News’ analysis.

“Chicagoans deserve the truth about the fiscal conditions of our city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Our economy does remain resilient, but fiscal discipline is certainly required in this moment.”

Chicago Public Schools students returned to their classrooms Monday for the start of the new academic year, as district officials continue working to finalize a budget proposal to close a $734 million funding gap.

The bill is designed to make sure that Chicago police officers and firefighters earn pension benefits at the same level as downstate first responders.

A city analysis warned the bill “would increase the city’s pension liabilities by more than $11 billion” in the two funds that pay pensions to retired police officers and firefighters.

“It’s on the table,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday at a City Hall news conference. “Everything has to be on the table. Everything has to be on the table.”

“I will not be proposing a property tax increase in my budget,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Thursday. “I’m going to continue to work hard to find progressive revenue so that we can continue to make critical investments in transforming our city.”

The amount of taxpayer funds spent on overtime by all city departments, including CPD, dropped in 2024 for the first time since 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic upended the city’s operations.

Despite the study's findings, members of the City Council’s Subcommittee on Revenue, facing a likely deficit of nearly $1.2 billion in the city’s 2026 spending plan, were not ready to fold and walk away from the table.