Chicago Property tax hike likely to pay for public schools

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Faced with a “tsunami” of teacher pension costs, Chicago public school officials want to raise city property taxes by $43 million, or 1.5 percent, a new budget released today indicates.

The hike would mean an $18 increase on a typical Chicago home valued at $262,000 — far less than the $77 increase the system could have assessed by taxing to the maximum allowed, said Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman.

Despite an ailing economy that has taken a bite out of most households, some help from property owners is needed to fill a $475 million budget hole — the largest in at least a decade, Huberman said.

And, he warned, even worse news is ahead. The next budget deficit, in fiscal year 2011, could top $900 million — a hole so big the system would have to increase class sizes and eliminate teachers unless “cost containment on the pension and wage fronts’’ is achieved, Huberman said.

Does it makes sense to raise property taxes when Chicago has less children in the public school system?