In just two days, the Chicago City Council will put Mayor Daley's $6.1. billion budget to a vote. From the looks of various news reports, even some of the mayor's staunchest allies remain concerned about his plan to plug the budget hole by pulling another $370 million from the city's dwindling reserves.

Encouragingly, a handful of council members are showing signs of life. Among them is Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward), who introduced two budget amendments last week in a last-ditch effort to restore funding for certain human services. As regular readers may recall, it was the Department of Public Health's own dysfunctional billing software that cost Chicago's mental health system $2.5 million in state aid and led them to cut 4,000 patients and 108 front-line staffers. Under Moore's amendment, those funds would be restored, allowing the city to rehire a combined 37 psychiatrists, social workers, and other clinic staff members.

Pulling that money from the parking meter reserve fund, which Moore proposes, would only amount to a short-term fix. As we've noted before, the $16 million billing system remains a problem. Until it's working properly, full funding from the state will remain in jeopardy.  When asked about the issue during public budget hearings over the summer, Daley simply "sat silent." And the Public Health Department is following his lead these days, offering up no new details on how the situation will be resolved.

Meanwhile, mental health programs aren't the only ones on the chopping block.  Amidst unprecedented state cutbacks in substance abuse services, the city has also opted to shave roughly $500,000 worth of those same programs from the budget. Ald. Moore is pushing to see those cuts restored as well.

There's no question that these spending reductions reflect Daley's priorities. While nickle-and-diming mental health and drug treatment programs, the mayor plans to cut $50 to $200 checks to property owners -- some of whom earn nearly $200,000 a year -- under the guise of "property tax relief."  Rightfully, Moore is calling the $35 million plan (which would also be covered via the parking meter reserves) a "gimmick."  Last week, the Rogers Park aldermen used a parliamentary tactic to table until Wednesday's council meeting, buying aldermen more time to revisit the plan.

"I don't like tapping into the parking meter fund," Moore tells us. "But if we're going to, let's do it to provide services to people who really need it."  We'll have more from City Hall on Wednesday.