Posted by Hal Dardick at 1:07 p.m.
Mayor Richard Daley today said he will ask city vendors to renegotiate their contracts, with a goal of cutting Chicago’s costs by 10 percent.
Daley said the move is just the latest of the city’s cost-cutting moves, including unpaid furlough days for employees, to cope with a tough economy that has slowed down revenue. He also said he understood the frustration expressed last week by tea party activists who rallied at Daley Plaza, saying other governments haven’t made the sacrifices that Chicago has.
“We’re doing everything here, and the state and federal government are not doing that,” Daley said, adding he wasn’t pointing fingers at specific politicians. “It does get you upset. You figure why are they immune from the economy — that people are suffering. And I’m not talking about any individual. I’m not talking specifically about (President Barack) Obama or (Gov. Pat) Quinn.”
He added: “There isn’t one state or federal employee taking any time off. You wonder why. Why not? Don’t they realize that this is a national recession. Don’t they realize that people are suffering. And that’s where the disgruntled attitude is, that they don’t get it.
"They don’t understand that this is a national recession. They are living in — they call it the Washington or Springfield bubble.”
That, he said, is what tea party members are upset about. “It has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans,” he said. “If they had a Republican administration in Washington, it would be the same thing.”
Daley said that last year he asked vendors to cut costs by 2 percent. About 30 percent took him up on the offer, saving nearly $4 million, he said.
“You’re not going to threaten them,” Daley said when asked how he would get the vendors to come to the renegotiating table. “This is a good thing. This is a good concept. We’re trying to keep government going.”
Daley said revenues so far are meeting projections in this year’s budget plan, but he’s nevertheless taking additional steps to save money.
That includes locking in natural gas cost savings of $8 million, issuing low cost Build America Bonds and Recovery Zone Bonds that reduced city debt-service costs by more than $2.8 million and the return of 32 rented vehicles that would have cost $1.7 million through the rest of the year.
Daley last week announced that an audit would be conducted of the city’s health benefit records to purge ineligible employees and dependents.