Despite Emanuel's promises to cut, city spending climbs

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has increased spending every year since his election, despite promises to wring costs out of the Chicago budget.

Spending out of the city's main operating account—called the corporate fund—will climb 12 percent, to $3.39 billion, in 2015, up from $3.04 billion in 2011, after adjusting for a change this year in accounting for pensions, according to a city's Annual Financial Analysis. The annual increases have ranged from 0.9 percent in 2013 to 4.7 percent this year.

Emanuel's vows to cut costs have received renewed urgency as he prepares to release a 2016 budget that is expected to include a $500 million property tax hike, the largest in city history, largely to cover payments to the police and firefighter pension funds. He is grappling with a budget deficit next year of at least $426 million, not including those pension payments, according to the financial analysis, published July 31.

Austerity to progressives is "a small increase".