Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other city leaders are considering a variety of options to ensure city services remain accessible during the COVID-19 outbreak.

A worst-case scenario could mean furloughs and layoffs of city employees, cuts to vital community programs, and a tax hike when the pandemic has run its course. However, those potentially dire possibilities are ones Lightfoot says she won't consider during the pandemic.

“We believe the worst thing we can do when we’re going through this kind of struggle is slash city services, slash city workforce and put people on the street,” Lightfoot said in a Crains report.

As of May 10, Illinois reported 76,085 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 3,349 deaths. Cook County has 21,281 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Lightfoot said her immediate response to the ongoing crisis is to use available government resources as a stimulus, instead of considering alternatives of layoffs and program cuts. She said that will involve a lot of “creative thinking” and a potential tax hike in Chicago’s future.

To make matters more difficult, some businesses, particularly those related to the hospitality industry, have fallen on hard times. Restaurants and hotels have reduced staffing levels or temporarily closed. Grocery stores and pharmacies are thriving, but there is still a long way to go, Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot signed an executive order that ensures key programs – such as access to small business loans, access to housing programs, and access to e-learning during the COVID-19 crisis – remain available.

“We’re still kind of at the midpoint, not at the endpoint” of the crisis,” Lightfoot said in a Crains report. 

Lightfoot, who has vowed transparency during the crisis, said the city is considering every alternative to maintaining city services and hopes to have more information to share with Chicagoans in the coming days.