Aldermen once again aired their distrust of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s work implementing Chicago’s budget Monday as his top finance leaders revealed the city is once again turning to an outside consulting firm for help in cutting costs.
City revenues are “tracking very closely to budget” so far this year, Budget Director Annette Guzmán told aldermen. But the news of an as-expected performance did little to win over aldermen still doubtful that the administration will fully implement the policies they passed to balance the city’s budget.
And aldermen took particular issue Monday with the revelation that Guzmán’s Office of Budget and Management had entered last month into a two-year, $6.7 million contract with consulting firm Ernst & Young.
“I think that there are a lot of unanswered questions,” Ald. Samantha Nugent, 39th, said after the meeting.
The hearing followed up on a grueling budget process last fall that ended when a City Council majority broke from the mayor to close the final spending gap. Johnson, who opposed parts of the plan, immediately warned it could lead to a “shortfall,” but decided to not veto it.
Many in the 30-member majority that backed the budget have since accused the mayor of moving too slowly in implementing the plan, especially controversial parts he opposed, including the legalization of video gambling machines in neighborhood establishments and the sale of city debt to private companies.
Ernst & Young will review each city department to help reach some of the cost-cutting goals it laid out in an initial 2025 report, Guzmán said. That report was touted by aldermen as a roadmap to stabilizing city finances, though before it was published many Johnson opponents criticized the administration for spending $3.2 million to pay for it.
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Pressed by Nugent, who appeared to be surprised to learn of the contract, Guzmán said her office had told the alderman it could not afford the consulting firm’s continued support last fall, but entered into the agreement this year with newly budgeted money.
“The desired outcome is to achieve those structural savings over the long term,” she told aldermen.
“It just seems like we are wasting money,” Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, responded.
“Why are we paying these commissioners a large sum of money if they can’t identify efficiencies within their own department?” Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, asked.
Aldermen also focused their attention on the city’s procurement process and urged its leaders to speed up a reform effort.
“It seems like we are not moving to execute items that have been put forth in the budget,” Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th, said of the Department of Procurement Services overhaul. “It seems like we’re behind the eight ball right now.”
As other city leaders laid out the work being done by the department to avoid overlapping contracts and use data more effectively, Guzmán told Mitts “the issues are deep and they are complicated.”
“Until you sit down and work through them, and work through the complexity of it, you start to realize what is needed to actually fix the issue,” she said.
The budget director told aldermen that the city’s revenues are 0.8% below its budget, “closely” tracking budget projections. Recreation tax revenues are up $8.4 million over projections, driven by sports gambling, but fines, forfeitures and penalties are $12.3 million under expectations, she said.
Guzmán touted the Johnson administration’s efforts to implement the city’s 2026 budget “in a highly complex environment.” She showed aldermen charts tracking progress on major changes, including plans to consolidate city real estate, cut vehicle costs and secure more money from special event organizers.
“This is not ad hoc. It is organized internal alignment,” she said. “Rather than simply announcing initiatives or providing broad updates, we are now reporting through a formal implementation matrix that allows both the administration and City Council to track progress, work-stream by work-stream.”
But aldermen who are typically opposed to the mayor appeared deeply skeptical of the progress.
Citing what he viewed as a lack of headway with procurement changes, Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, argued the Monday hearing portended another difficult budget season for Johnson in the fall.
“Because he’s not straightforward, he’s not honest and there’s a deficit of trust that continues to build,” he said.
As Waguespack spoke, Budget Committee Chair Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, walked over and chided a group of colleagues for their pointed questions toward Guzmán.
Speaking with the Tribune, Ervin pointed to news from the hearing that the city has not received formal responses from businesses while pursuing earnings tied to an augmented-reality advertising program. Opponents of Johnson’s added into the budget an expectation that the city would earn $6 million from the technology, though Johnson’s administration argued the city could not responsibly count on the money.
As it becomes clear what budget items don’t pan out, the City Council and mayor must work together to implement fixes, Ervin said.
“If augmented reality doesn’t come through, and other things aren’t trending the way they need to, we’ve got to make some adjustments,” he said. “That’s where the rub comes in: How, when and where we will make those adjustments.”