The administration provided the data after far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale hammered the mayor’s budget team this week for what he said was a misguided policy at a time the city desperately needs new sources of revenue.
While Beale charged during a Tuesday hearing on the mayor’s 2020 budget plan that water payments were down $165 million in 2019, Finance Department spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban said the shortfall is actually $20 million.
And the city has billed about $18 million less this year in water and sewer fees than in 2018, according to month-by-month amounts provided by the administration. Cabanban said that’s due to lower water usage in the city and in suburbs that purchase water from Chicago, possibly tied to conservation efforts.
Before she was even sworn in this May, Lightfoot said she would direct the city’s water department not to shut off water for people who aren’t paying their bills. "Water is a basic, basic human right," Lightfoot said then.