Chicago slashes 2,103 public safety jobs as it adds 184 administrators

Chicago’s 2025 budget has a nearly $1 billion hole. Mayor Brandon Johnson has only proposed tax hikes. But when personnel eats over two-thirds of the budget, the city must be smart about freezes and cuts without making public safety even worse.

Chicago has cut 2,103 police positions but added 184 administrators, a manpower blunder that won’t help city leaders fix their nearly $1 billion budget deficit.

Cutting non-essential personnel, enforcing stricter hiring freezes with exceptions for public safety positions, and pension reform are all options the city should consider to balance the budget for 2025. They would all be more effective than the current strategy of seeking new and creative ways to tax Chicagoans.

Major obstacles facing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $17.3 billion budget for fiscal year 2025 are a $982 shortfall and $4.2 billion in personnel costs. Personnel spending in Chicago will consume $168.7 million more of the city’s corporate fund in 2025, further oppressing taxpayers in America’s reigning “highest-taxed city.”

Although personnel expenses cover many public services that protect the health and safety of Chicagoans, these costs have big impacts on taxpayers. That’s because the corporate fund is financed by the city’s property taxes and local business taxes and fees: the higher those taxes climb, the fewer residents and businesses the city will have.

In 2025, personnel costs, including salaries, benefits, pensions and other expenses for city employees, will consume 63% of Chicago’s corporate fund, or $3.53 billion.

Most personnel costs are from Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department and the Department of Fleet and Facility Services. Collectively, these municipal departments take $2.57 billion of the city’s corporate fund. Administrative and finance departments account for the next-largest share of personnel costs, at about $500 million of the corporate fund.

Filling Chicago’s budget gap will require reducing costs and changing policies that hinder natural revenue growth. Squeezing more revenue from Chicagoans by increasing taxes will magnify many of Chicago’s existing economic challenges and further threaten city income. This includes considerable numbers of tax-exhausted residents fleeing the city and an ongoing housing affordability crisis.

In a major flip-flop on his campaign promises, Johnson proposed a $300 million property tax hike to address these issues. All 50 aldermen voted to reject it. Now, Johnson is considering a smaller $150 million property tax hike and a 35% tax on alcohol. His new taxes are likely to meet the same City Council opposition, so he needs a new plan.

Layoffs are a potential alternative Johnson wants to avoid. Because of strong opposition by city unions, the mayor’s budget plan for 2025 will instead slash unfilled positions. The Chicago Police Department will face 456 of these cuts.

This continues the city’s pattern of choosing to cut jobs from the public safety sector, with 2,103 full-time equivalent employee positions eliminated since 2019. Fewer cops are on the streets, and the city’s violent crime is hitting record highs.

The bulk of the city’s personnel growth has come from the Department of Public Health, the Department of Technology and Innovation, and the Department of Family and Support Services. These departments have collectively added 196 full-time equivalent employees, supported by various city funds. Some of the growth in these departments is likely a result of the city’s migrant crisis.

Given the fiscal reality facing Chicago, just cutting vacant positions will not be enough to close the city’s nearly $1 billion shortfall. Foisting tax increases on an already severely tax-burdened city won’t work, either.

High personnel costs, especially costs related to administrative bloat, benefits inflation and pensions, strain the city’s corporate fund. To secure long-term financial stability, Chicago must implement sustainable budgeting strategies. Absent from Johnson’s 2025 budget proposal is any demand for pension reform, something both his predecessors backed.

If the city doesn’t take steps to address personnel spending, beyond cutting unfilled positions, Johnson’s proposed 2025 budget will return Chicago to its cycle of passing on fiscal problems to future generations. To improve its fiscal health, Chicago should prioritize cutting non-essential staff, enforcing stricter hiring freezes and reforming its pension system.

Administrative costs

Administrative costs, across all funds, account for about $355 million of Chicago’s total 2025 budget. That alone is about $55 million more than Johnson’s original property tax hike proposal.

Since 2019, the city has added a total of 184 full-time equivalent administrative positions and $145 million in administrative costs. Between 2019 and 2025, three departments will have increased administrative costs by more than 200%: the Department of Fleet and Facility Management, the Office of Public Safety Administration and the Department of Public Health.

During that same time, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, which is financed by the city’s hotel tax, will have increased its administrative costs by more than 1,500%.

Between 2019 and 2025, three new municipal departments will have been established: the Office of Public Safety Administration, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability and the Department of Environment. Excluding employees shifted between departments, these entities will have collectively added 177 full-time administrative positions to the city’s personnel since 2019. These positions will account for $52 million in administrative costs supported by the corporate fund in 2025.

The city introduced the Office of Public Safety Administration as part of the 2020 budget’s cost-saving efficiency strategy. This bureaucratic entity is responsible for overseeing all administrative functions for the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Fire Department, and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

The Office of Public Safety Administration brought in 390 full-time civilian administrators through a combination of shifting existing civilian positions and hiring new civilian employees. By adding these civilian administrators, the city expected the new office to enhance efficiency and help uniformed officers focus on frontline, public safety efforts.

During its first year in operation, the city expected the office to save Chicago $2 million. Despite experiencing little change in the number of its full-time equivalent employees, its costs exceeded its savings. It more than tripled its administration and finance costs, spending nearly $35 million since 2020.

The Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability, created in 2021, aims to provide oversight and build cohesive relationships between the police and community members. The Department of Environment, reestablished in 2024, enforces environmental standards and develops policy to address climate change.

These two departments have added another 18 full-time administrative positions since 2019, accounting for $2.84 million of the corporate fund.

Benefits inflation

The cost of salaries, wages, health care and overtime grew by $2,800 per employee between 2024 and 2025. Although some departments, such as the Department of Family and Support Services, decreased benefits primarily because of workforce shifting, other departments saw large increases in benefits per full-time equivalent employee. This includes the Department of Technology and Innovation, which increased benefits by $65,000 per worker.

Other departments with large increases in benefits per employee included: the Department of the Environment with a $12,178 increase and the Department of Fleet and Facility Management with a $8,049 increase.

Departments with workers mostly funded by the corporate fund experienced steeper benefits inflation. Employees at these departments received an average of $6,113 more in benefits than they did a year ago. This was a 5.2% benefit increase, which was more than the inflation rate of 3.5%.

Pension pressures

The largest increase in personnel funding comes from pensions. Pensions are not counted in benefits calculations, but are their own line in the budget. For many years, Chicago has mismanaged these costs: primarily because of its ill-conceived Tier 1 pensions. Chicago’s public pensions are also among the worst-funded in the country.

To make up for some of its severe overpromising, the city plans to spend an extra $272 million on its pension plans. Overall, the city’s budget projects a $2.92 billion expenditure for 2025, most of which will be paid by $1.66 billion in property taxes. The remaining $1.26 billion will come from a combination of the corporate, water-sewage, enterprise and special revenue funds.

Policy recommendations

To avoid property taxes increases that will further burden Chicago’s residents, the city should consider other cost-saving alternatives and long-term budgeting solutions.

Some recommendations to control personnel spending and manage benefits inflation and pension costs include:

• Cutting non-essential personnel, especially administrative staff, with exceptions for frontline, public-safety activities. When budget cuts occur, public safety positions are often targeted first. That is a problem because rising crime can hinder economic growth.
• Enforcing hiring freezes, with exceptions for the Chicago Police Department and frontline public safety personnel. Johnson implemented a hiring freeze in September 2024, but the city has hired 268 employees since then. By truly halting new hires, the city can control costs.
• Consolidating municipal departments and other systems, such as the four city pension systems, the regional transportation systems (Metra, Pace, CTA), and various school districts, based on a state-provided comprehensive investigation of efficient resource allocation. Consolidation efforts can streamline administrative functions and reduce overhead costs.
• Creating a task force to evaluate fund allocation and determine required personnel reductions to increase departmental efficiency. For example, the Chicago Police Department has seen increased costs despite cuts to the labor force because understaffing has increased overtime. A better allocation of personnel, such as an increase in personnel in specialized roles that cut down overtime expenses, could save the department money.
• Fixing Chicago’s pension crisis with comprehensive reform, including placing an amendment to the Illinois Constitution before voters. Also, capping the automatic 3% annual increases in cost-of-living adjustments, tying them to inflation and implementing reasonable salary caps would help manage pension costs and save the city billions.

Chicago’s nearly $1 billion budget deficit can be fixed, but there are smarter solutions than just figuring out how to squeeze taxpayers yet again.