Progress Illinois

If there's one obvious benefit to Mayor Daley's rapid leasing of city assets in recent years, it's the independent streak it's roused in the City Council. Even Daley loyalists like Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th Ward) came out with tough words for the mayor this week after he tried to force through an employee furlough plan to cover the city's $250-$300 million year-end shortfall without warning aldermen of the financial situation in advance -- a manuever reminiscent of the $1.2 billion parking meter fiasco.

Some alderman reacted by calling a special hearing to review the chaotic meter agreement, which will take place next Monday.  Ald. Tom Allen floated a proposal for a 30-day waiting period before any future privatization deals can be finalized, although it was pulled from the Finance Committee agenda earlier this week. Now, a trio of aldermen -- Manny Flores (1st Ward), Rey Colon (35th Ward), and Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) -- are pushing back a little harder.

Today they introduced the City Asset Lease Agreement Disclosure Ordinance, which in the spirit of the TIF Sunshine measure, would require the city to post to the web all documents pertaining to privatization deals worth more than $10 million. The measure takes a major step forward by demanding a full financial accounting of what the Daley administration is doing with the $3.5 billion worth of privatization money brought in since 2002.

Here are more details on what would be included, via the ordinance:

A separate accounting document detailing the allocation of lease proceeds including, but not necessarily limited to, appropriations, investments, interest income earned, and distributions to future budget years. This document should also detail the payment of all fees and expenses related to the lease transaction. Additionally, the document should list the names and fees paid to all financial consultants, auditors and/or financial institutions hired by the city to invest and manage City asset lease proceed funds.

Echoing what the Reader's watchdog Ben Jovarsky has been reporting for sometime now, Flores says, "The public needs to see where this money is coming from and where it is going." And opening the books would give the public a chance to not only examine the Daley administration's preferential spending but to demand it's invested wisely. Otherwise, as Flores tells the Tribune, the consequences could be felt for years to come:

“We have to be very careful in the way that we’re managing the assets, the money we have generated from the lease of public assets,” Flores said today at City Hall. “If the city squanders that money, that money is gone, and the future generations of Chicagoans will suffer.”

You can read the full ordinance below (click the button in the upper right-hand corner to expand):

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user multisanti.