Allowing CPD to spend unlimited sums of taxpayer money is a “crazy way to run a city,” said Justin Marlowe, a professor in the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, and the director of the Center for Municipal Finance.

“From the public health perspective, it is about protecting the children and protecting adults who don’t really know what is in the products they’re consuming,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo “Simbo” Ige said.

As aldermen kicked off nearly a month of hearings by quizzing the mayor’s finance team for more than four hours, several alderpeople said they were shocked by the amount of money the mayor had proposed taking from the city’s tax increment financing districts.

Budget negotiations between members of the Chicago City Council have accelerated following Mayor Brandon Johnson’s initial proposal, which he unveiled last week.

In all, CPD’s budget is set to swell to $2.1 billion, increasing by $37.9 million to cover the cost of salary increases required by agreements with unions representing members.

The City Council also agreed to pay $8 million to the family of Leonardo Guerrero, who died after being strapped to a stretcher by Chicago Fire Department paramedics.

“The line to draw here is that we either are going to protect working people in Chicago from Trump’s cuts, or we are going to open up the floodgates and allow these individuals to be hurt and harmed further,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Nine months into the year, Chicago taxpayers have spent at least $266.8 million to resolve nearly two and a half dozen lawsuits, exceeding the city’s annual budget to resolve lawsuits alleging police misconduct by nearly $185 million, city records show.

Leonardo Guerrero, 44, died at an Uptown hospital on Aug. 31, 2022, after his heart stopped in a Chicago Fire Department ambulance.

Nine cases alleging Chicagoans were hit or killed during a police chase that violated department policy cost taxpayers more than $75 million to resolve between Jan. 1 and July 31, according to WTTW News’ analysis.

Botched raids by the Chicago Police Department have cost taxpayers more than $5.5 million since 2020, according to a WTTW News analysis.

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.