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Truth in Accounting says to truly understand a city’s financial
condition, taxpayers have to play an impossible game of hide and
seek. The government watchdog's analysis of the 10 most populous
U.S. cities included underlying government units for which city
taxpayers are responsible for, such as schools and transit,
details Chicago leaves out of its financial report.
When the unfunded debt of these underlying government units is
combined with the county, municipal and state debt, city
taxpayers are on the hook for much more than they think.
“In New York City, each taxpayer is burdened in that city
$91,500, where Chicago is actually $135,700,” Truth in
Accounting CEO Sheila Weinberg said.
Collectively, taxpayers in these 10 cities face an average
combined per-taxpayer burden of more than $49,400, including
county, state, and “off balance-sheet” underlying government
entities. This compares to an average per-taxpayer burden of
$19,900 for their city governments alone.
Patrick Tuohey, policy director with the nonprofit Better Cities
Project, said Chicago leaders should be more transparent with
their finances.
“A culture of openness starts from the top, and it says in order
to provide the best service to the people we work with, our
assumption should be that everything is open and all of these
meetings are public,” Tuohey said.
Some of the underlying government units taxpayers are
responsible for in addition to schools are the Chicago Park
District, Chicago Housing Authority, and the Metropolitan Water
Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
Of the ten cities examined, Phoenix, Arizona, had the lowest
taxpayer burden at $11,200, followed by San Antonio, Texas, at
$19,400, and Dallas, Texas, at $26,000.
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in Illinois for the Center
Square. He has over 30 years of experience in radio news reporting
throughout the Midwest.
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