Harold Washington, Chicago`s populist mayor who frequently finds himself mingling with Wall Street investment bankers and bond analysts, says finding new sources of city revenue is the primary problem around which any partnership between business and city government must evolve.
None of the city`s major downtown business organizations has yet endorsed this view, but that may soon change. So far, business groups have focused on more vague themes of economic development, creating and retaining jobs and downtown physical improvements. Indeed, higher taxes may frustrate those aims. But Washington believes the withdrawal of federal revenue sharing and the political and social limits on real estate and sales taxation make the revenue side of city fiscal policy the most urgent, concrete concern requiring business expertise and advocacy.
Washington maintains that his administration has developed a process for controlling spending, but ”we need an adequate revenue stream to keep this city afloat.”
It`s unclear whether the most exalted of Chicago`s business leaders would or could sell the General Assembly on home-rule income tax powers for Chicago or a state income tax hike earmarked for Illinois` cities.
But Washington`s own financial planning committee of business executives and their staffs shortly will recommend a host of measures to bolster city revenues as well as cut spending. Business leaders who will sign the report thus will become a lightning rod for what surely will become a politically charged debate over city fiscal policy.
That`s one reason Washington believes he can reject the notion that a gulf exists between the city`s business community and city government. He was well aware of a ”less than delightful relationship” between business and city government in 1983 in the wake of Jane Byrne.
”We had a long way to go,” he said.
More Top Picks Best Turntables For Vinyl Collectors 2
He maintains that since naming his transition team upon entering office, he has established a good working relationship with business. He says he intentionally ”larded” the transition team with noted business leaders.
”We were trying to send out some solid signals,” he said. And he says 80 percent of the team`s recommendations have been accomplished.
The business explosion late last year against the city`s surprise imposition of a commercial lease tax ”served to accelerate a process that was going on rather pleasantly,” he said.
He points to his Private Sector Resource Council, formed in late 1984, through which about 50 executives from Chicago companies have volunteered to assist various city departments. Another 50 have been loaned directly to several departments. Such volunteers are needed, Washington said, in part because the Shakman court decree barring political firing curtails his ability to weed out incompetents in the rank and file of city management.
Washington says that among those who gave his administration an early boost were IC Industries Chairman William B. Johnson and First Chicago Corp. Chairman Barry F. Sullivan. He said Sullivan, for example, personally escorted Robert Mier, Washington`s economic development chief, ”hand in hand up and down LaSalle Street” to allay fears that Mier was anti-big business.
Since then, he said, business leaders have aided such efforts as an analysis of the future of the steel industry in Chicago, the future of Navy Pier and the development of the North Loop. The First National Bank of Chicago and Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. have provided considerable expertise in preparing city presentations to bond analysts and investment bankers.