‘Megaprojects’ bill passes Illinois House, Bears say changes needed for Arlington Heights stadium<\/a><\/p>\nMayor Johnson also met with House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch and is not giving up hope of keeping the Bears in Chicago.<\/p>\n
“The reason why the Bears did not proceed with the plans in Chicago is because we didn’t get any cooperation from the state of Illinois. Now, the state of Illinois is saying that they’re willing to cooperate. So, let’s take that level of cooperation that’s being applied to the suburbs that was not applied to the city of Chicago,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Illinois lawmakers’ spring session ends on May 31.<\/p>\n
The Bears have said they plan to share an update on their new stadium plans by late spring or early summer.<\/p>\n
Another priority on the mayor’s agenda, one that brought together more than a dozen other mayors, is restoring local government distributive funds, known as LGDF. That money is the portion of state income taxes that is shared with local municipalities, that they say is being cut this year.<\/p>\n
“While we acknowledge the steps that leaders in Springfield have taken to navigate the fiscal challenges that Illinois is facing, we cannot balance the state fund or state budget on the backs of local governments at a time when federal support is dwindling,” Johnson said. “Working people are already struggling under the weight of rising gas prices and housing prices, which continue to go up, the last thing that we need is cuts to local services that they all rely on.”<\/p>\n
The governor’s office says municipalities will not lose any dollars in his budget plan, saying in a statement, “Governor Pritzker’s FY27 budget holds local governments harmless, maintains the same income tax dollars as last year, and continues record levels of overall support.”<\/p>\n
Other mayors and lawmakers say the underlying problem goes back to 2011, when the state started reducing LGDF funds from 10 percent; now it’s down to just over 6 percent.<\/p>\n
“Local governments have lost $15 billion in total LGDF funds that should have gone to local governments,” Palos Hills Mayor Jerry Bennett said.<\/p>\n
“LGDF is essential to all communities, but especially to those that don’t have sales tax and other revenues to augment our municipal budgets,” Lynwood Mayor Jada Curry said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Johnson will remain in Chicago for one more night, with more meetings with lawmakers scheduled Wednesday night and Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
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