Mayor Richard Daley’s $11.6-million tax increase package to help finance his proposed $3.6 billion 1995 budget sailed through the Chicago City Council with no debate and passed by a unanimous vote Thursday.
In contrast to the acrimony that has sometimes accompanied moves to increase taxes in the past, this one apparently escaped aldermanic ire because it attempts to spread the cost of government to suburbanites who use city facilities such as theaters, sports stadiums and Lake Michigan moorings.
The tax increases include a boost in the city amusement tax that was scaled back to 1 percent from 2 percent. The levy, applied to tickets for sporting events and theaters with capacities over 750, will go up to 7 percent from 6 percent under Daley’s proposal. It will produce about $3 million a year.
A plan to double the number of new downtown parking meters to more than 850 from 400 is expected to make up the revenue that would have been generated by an 8 percent amusement tax, budget workers said.
Other taxes approved by the council include a $1.25 fee for vehicles parked by valets in lots.
The tax increase proposal that attracted the most citizen protest is the 25-percent surcharge on mooring fees for boats in Chicago Park District harbors. The city also will charge boat owners fees ranging from $100 to $300 when they summon Chicago police marine units for emergency services such as pumping water, extinguishing fires and towing disabled vessels. Daley budget aides said the fees, which are expected to bring in more than $2 million, will be used to to pay for the marine unit.
Although some taxes and fees will be raised, the Daley budget also includes a reduction in the “head tax,” under which businesses with 15 or more employees must pay the city $5 a month for each employee. Under the new plan, the law will affect only businesses with 50 or more employees, and the monthly rate will drop to $4 an employee.
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The council also approved a smaller series of fee increases for people taking city personnel tests and registering firearms.
Daley’s proposed budget is scheduled for full council passage next Wednesday.
In other action Thursday, the council approved a contract with the city’s 4,200 firefighters and 600 paramedics, giving them a 13 percent pay increase over a 3 1/2-year period, ending July 1, 1996. The agreement includes retroactive pay increases averaging about $8,000 dating to Jan. 1, 1992.
The Daley administration also scrapped imposing medical insurance premium increases for about 18,000 pensioneers that had been scheduled to take effect in January. At the urging of several aldermen, the increases averaging about $15 a month were canceled after the policies were renegotiated with insurers.