South suburban property owners carry heavier tax load – The RealDeal

Tax bills in the southern suburbs came in with a median increase of almost 20 percent last year, the largest hike in three decades, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas found. In several majority-Black suburbs, including Harvey, tax bills increased 30 percent. “The south suburbs are the poster child for inequitable property taxation in Illinois, and now it’s worse than ever for homeowners,” she told the outlet last month.

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Pritzker defends elimination of ’embarrassing’ Illinois tax; Peoria worried about revenue – Peoria Journal Star

Peoria Mayor Rita Ali is still concerned with how the loss of $4 million annually will impact Peoria. She said city leaders and staff will spend the next year coming up with a plan to make up for the loss. To that end, Ali said “everything is on the table” to make up for the lost revenue, including the implementation of a local grocery tax.

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Mayor Johnson’s budget timeline delay spells difficult months ahead for Chicago’s financial conundrum – Chicago Tribune/MSN

“It is, by my lens and by the lens of most experienced hands going back a couple generations now, possibly the most challenging moment for the city,” said Joe Ferguson, president of the fiscal watchdog Civic Federation. “Not to downplay the challenge of the Great Recession, but we have fewer options now than we had then. And this is an enormous deficit, a deficit that is in the range of the COVID deficits, without the benefit of any white knights.”

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Aldermen, including several mayoral allies, blast Johnson over Chicago Board of Education resignations – Chicago Tribune/Yahoo

At least three dozen aldermen, including numerous allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson, posted an open letter Saturday blasting the mayor’s handing of Chicago Public Schools. “A School Board full of lame-duck appointees carrying out only a few months of a term before residents get a chance to elect representatives is not what is in our best interest,” the letter said.

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This year’s NASCAR Chicago Street Race drew more visitors, filled more hotel rooms and generated $128 million in economic impact – Chicago Tribune/Yahoo

The 2024 street race weekend drew 53,063 unique visitors, up 12 percent over last year, with more than half of attendees traveling to Chicago for the event. Total attendance, however, fell 5.5 percent to about 75,000 racegoers, the study from Temple University’s Sport Industry Research Center found. The out-of-town attendees spent about $568 per day in Chicago and booked 33,268 hotel room nights.

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