Ald. Bill Conway: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to borrow $830M is reckless

Chicago is at a crossroads. While some see 2027 as the chance to course-correct, we can’t afford to wait two years. The decisions we make now will determine our city’s financial future. We still have time to turn things around, but it will be incredibly difficult to grow our city, lower costs or make progress on public safety, transit or education if we don’t take a more thoughtful financial approach as soon as possible.

Our fiscal footing underpins everything, and it’s perilous.

Don’t just take it from me: Two major credit agencies, Standard & Poor and Kroll, have downgraded Chicago in the last month to just above junk status, significantly worse than any other major U.S. city. 

Standard & Poor’s reasoning for the downgrade was clear and damning: “With a tepid revenue outlook, we expect the city will need to pursue much deeper cost-cutting measures if it is to make meaningful progress in tackling the structural deficit.” It also pointed out that Chicago carries the largest debt and liabilities of any major American city.

For any responsible leader, this news would have been a call to action, a moment to reassess and steady the course.

Instead, whether a blatant disregard of S&P’s concerns or a stunning lack of awareness, the very next day, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration signaled its intent to borrow another $830 million.

The Finance Committee recently considered that proposal. While we need to invest in infrastructure, I voted no, noting our worsening financial outlook and pushing to reduce the size and scope of this debt offering.

Since then, it was revealed that the preliminary plan is for this debt to be issued with zero payments until 2027, followed by interest-only payments through 2045.

Imagine taking out a mortgage on your house, but not making a single payment for the first two years. Then, for the next 18 years, you pay only the interest — never touching the actual loan balance. By the time you start paying off the principal, you’ve racked up so much extra interest that you’re now paying more than double what you borrowed.

That’s exactly what the mayor’s office has proposed. It’ll borrow $830 million today, but between delayed and interest-only payments, taxpayers will ultimately owe more than $2 billion. And conveniently, the real payments don’t start until after the mayor and City Council face reelection.

On the heels of a credit downgrade and the threat of federal funding cuts, the size and the schedule for this additional debt are reckless and could be more responsibly structured.

Adding more insult to taxpayers’ injury, Johnson is reportedly reviving his universally unpopular and rejected plan to spend $2.4 billion in taxpayer money on a lakefront Bears stadium, a plan that Springfield and even his most progressive allies oppose.

This is all on top of the mayor’s 2025 budget, which hiked taxes for working families through increases in fees on parking, ride-share, shopping bags and streaming services while refusing to consider commonsense government efficiencies.

Taking a step back, the speed at which our budget has ballooned is staggering. In 2019, the city of Chicago had a budget of $10.7 billion. The year, the budget is $17.1 billion — a 60% increase in just six years. Are our streets 60% safer? Are our schools 60% stronger? Have we helped create 60% more jobs? We all know the answer is “no.”

Our financial crisis isn’t new. Past leaders left us with underfunded pensions, reckless borrowing and asset sales that prioritized short-term cash over long-term stability. They selfishly ignored the structural problems lurking beneath the surface, but now, the bill is coming due. We have a choice: Change course or keep kicking the can into a brick wall and hope it magically disappears.

The good news? Fixing this isn’t impossible, and it doesn’t mean abandoning our values or commitment to thriving communities. Chicago has real strengths that even politicians haven’t screwed up — abundant fresh water, a vast transportation network, world-class universities, a skilled workforce, diverse communities and a broad-based economy that isn’t reliant on a single industry. But to reach our full potential, we need to borrow responsibly, invest in job growth and affordable housing, and spend with more discipline.

Like everyone, I want a stronger, safer and more prosperous Chicago. We’re poised to be the strongest city in America, but if we fail to make smart fiscal decisions and keep burdening taxpayers with avoidable bills, everything else — crime, schools, transportation — will be overwhelmed by the financial collapse that threatens our city’s future.

Working families budget wisely. City Hall should too.

Ald. Bill Conway represents Chicago’s 34th Ward and is an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves.

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