This is how we pay for The New Burnham Plan ourselves: where the money comes from, what it does to the city budget, and the math for every policy.
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How we pay for it
What it costs you, where the money comes from, and what it pays for.
What it costs you
IF YOU OWN A HOME
The median homeowner (the homeowner in the middle of Chicago's property tax bills) pays about $5.38 a day ($164 a month) from the three property tax lines you vote on: the neighborhood fund, called the Chicago Remodel Fund, $1.75 a day ($53 a month); the Pension Promise line, $2.14 a day ($65 a month), which ends when the pension debt is paid off; and the Spine Line charge for a new subway, $1.49 a day ($45 a month), which ends when its bonds are paid off, about 33 years after the first bill. If you own your home, live in it and earn below an income line, you get a rebate from the neighborhood fund.
IF YOU WORK IN CHICAGO
You pay 1.5% of your pay toward childcare and paid leave at the planning rate, and your employer matches it. That's about $2.67 a day, or $81 a month, on a $65,000 salary. That's $37.50 a paycheck if you're paid every two weeks. It starts lower and steps up as enrollment opens, and an independent actuary sets the final rate.
YOUR WATER BILL
You pay a new lead-line surcharge: $8 a month on a single-family home at the starting tier, rising roughly $5 to $8 a month so crews can get every lead line out. Then the surcharge ends. Separately, water and sewer rates rise up to 1% a year above inflation for ten years to replace the mains and sewers: about $5 a month more by Year 10.
YOUR CITY STICKER
The sticker for most cars costs $175 under the plan, about $70 more than today's $105.18 sticker. The increase is under 20 cents a day, or $5.82 a month. Cars up to 3,000 lb pay $100 and electric vehicles get $50 off. Low-speed vehicles (small electric vehicles for short trips), motorcycles and mopeds register free. Seniors pay $50 for any vehicle under 5,000 lb. Households under twice the poverty line pay half, and under the poverty line a quarter.
CROSSING THE RIVER
Chicago residents don't pay the River Crossing Fee, the toll that people who don't live in Chicago pay to drive across the city's bridges over the Chicago River.
IF YOU LIVE NEAR A SPINE LINE STATION
There's no extra charge for living near a station. You pay the same Spine Line charge as everyone else.
ALL OF IT TOGETHER
About $8.88 a day, or $270 a month, for a median homeowner with a $65,000 Chicago job and a midsize car. That's every line above, all at once. Two pieces have an end date: the Pension Promise line runs 20 years, then ends, and the Spine Line charge ends when its bonds are paid off, about 33 years after the first bill. Everything else is ongoing. What comes back is on each policy page: childcare at $300 a month instead of about $1,560, 12 weeks of paid leave, your lead line replaced and the river crossings free.
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Why not just make the rich pay?
A lot of people ask this. It's a fair question, and here's my answer.
Business already pays about half. Every property in Chicago pays the same rate, so bigger homes pay more, and businesses pay their share too. Commercial, industrial and larger apartment buildings pay about half of Chicago's property taxes today, and they'd pay the same share of the three property tax pieces in this plan. Employers match the childcare and paid leave contribution. Drivers from outside the city pay the River Crossing Fee. Owners sitting on empty lots pay the vacant-land surcharge. Homeowners below an income line get a rebate. Nobody gets a pass.
Chicago can't tax income, and shouldn't try. The Illinois Constitution doesn't let the city tax income unless Springfield allows it. A tax on millionaires belongs in Springfield and Washington, where you can't dodge it by moving five minutes into the suburbs. Illinois voters backed a millionaire surtax for property tax relief in 2024. If Springfield passes it, that money lowers what you pay for this plan. We're not waiting for it.
We need everyone to stay. This plan works best when more people and more businesses share the bill. A tax aimed at one group makes the rest of us depend on that group staying. And the City Council voted down a per-employee business tax in December 2025. A plan that needs one won't get built.
When we pay for it, we can hold them to it. You vote on the big pieces. Every dollar is published, the work schedule is public, and an independent audit comes every year. Money from somewhere else comes with someone else's priorities, and it can disappear in the next budget fight. Money we raise ourselves can't be taken away like that.
Sources: business share from the Cook County Treasurer's 2025 Tax Year Bill Analysis ($4.36 billion billed to business property and $4.64 billion to homeowners in Chicago); Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6(e); the November 2024 advisory question on a 3% tax on income over $1 million, approved 61% to 39% (Ballotpedia); the City Council's December 20, 2025 budget vote without the proposed $33-per-employee tax (WTTW).
You're already paying for all of this.
Chicago pays now, all the time, in ways that don't show up as a line on a bill. The street that doesn't get repaved shows up as repair bills on your car, and as the 112 hours a year Chicago drivers lose to traffic, the worst in the country. The pipes that don't get replaced show up as filters, bottled water and, for some families, permanent harm to a child. The crisis nobody treated shows up at the emergency room and the jail, both paid for by the public at the worst possible price. A wage that doesn't cover the cost of living shows up as public assistance for people working full time.
Paying for it ourselves is also how we get to decide. Money from Springfield and Washington comes with conditions, and it can be taken back. In October 2025 the federal government froze $2.1 billion for the Red Line mid-project, and it took nearly six months, a lawsuit and a court order to get it moving again. So the rule is simple: take outside money when it comes, and never build the budget around it. That goes for the Spine Line too. We pay for it with money raised here, so no federal or state grant is budgeted, and Chicago rides it five to eight years sooner than if we waited in line for Washington, at about the same cost a day. If outside money comes anyway, it lowers what Chicagoans pay.
We never borrow to pay bills. We borrow only to build things that last for generations: the Spine Line, repaid over 30 years after it opens by its own citywide charge and the value it creates along the line; water mains, sewers and lead lines, repaid by water customers over the century they last; building frunchroom zones (each neighborhood's own downtown, with a free public plaza at the center) faster from Year 4, repaid from the money the River Crossing Fee has already proven it collects; and Connect the Lake, a new lakefront neighborhood on land the city keeps. The Remodel Fund never borrows.
Where the money comes from
Every piece of the plan that brings in money, in one place. There are three kinds, kept separate: what the plan asks people to pay, what the city earns from things it owns, and what growth and recovered deals bring back. Figures are per year, once each program is fully running, unless noted. Every core source is raised in Chicago and governed in Chicago.
WHAT THE PLAN ASKS FOR
These are charges and fees, and each one has a named purpose. Each of the three property tax lines goes to voters first.
Chicago Remodel Fund (property tax line)
About $1,055M a year
A permanent line on the property tax bill that voters approve. It costs the median homeowner about $1.75 a day, or $53 a month. Homeowners who live in their homes and earn below an income line get a rebate. It pays first for the programs that keep families in their neighborhoods, like mental health care, crisis teams and help staying housed. Then it rebuilds neighborhoods block by block, from the pipes up. The city never borrows against it, and none of it goes to pensions.
Pension Promise line
About $1.29B a year above the state minimum
A separate line on the property tax bill that voters approve. It costs the median homeowner about $2.14 a day, or $65 a month. It pays off the four city pension funds' debt on a fixed 20-year schedule. It never replaces the payment the state already requires, and it ends when the debt is paid.
Spine Line charge
About $896M a year, from the first year
A citywide charge on the property tax bill that pays for the Spine Line, a new subway of about 25 miles under Western Avenue and 95th Street with a transfer to every L line. It costs the median homeowner about $1.49 a day, or $45 a month, and the rate is the same for everyone. Voters approve it first. The city collects it from the first year, so part of the construction is paid for as it goes and less money is borrowed. It pays the line's bonds and running costs, and it ends when the bonds are paid off, 30 years after the line opens, about 33 years after the first bill.
Value created by the Spine Line
About $1.9B over 25 years ($78M a year)
The city collects part of the value the subway creates, with no extra charge on nearby property. It leases the space above the line and stations (air rights), takes a share of new development at stations, and keeps part of the growth in property taxes along the line, while Chicago Public Schools still get their full share. This money helps run the line. The plan doesn't budget any federal or state grant.
Family Care payroll contribution
About $2.85B a year
A contribution of 3.0% of pay for jobs in Chicago, at the planning rate (an independent actuary sets the final rate): 1.5% from workers and 1.5% from employers. That's about $2.67 a day, or $81 a month, for a worker on a $65,000 salary. Together with the $300 a month families pay, it covers childcare at $10 a day and 12 weeks of paid leave.
River Crossing Fee (formerly the Bridge Fee)
About $257M a year (Year 5 midpoint; range $230–285M)
People who don't live in Chicago pay a toll to drive across the city's bridges over the Chicago River. Chicago residents are not charged. Of the toll money, about $51 million a year restores the river bridges, and the rest rebuilds our neighborhoods.
Chicago Mobility Fund (the city sticker)
About $94M a year in new money
The city vehicle sticker becomes the city's road maintenance fund. It's priced by weight: $175 for most cars, $100 for vehicles up to 3,000 lb, more for the heaviest vehicles, and free for low-speed vehicles (small electric vehicles for short trips), motorcycles and mopeds. The money goes mostly to road maintenance and patching, plus electric-vehicle charging, transportation help for low-income households and the fleet for Chicago Ride, the city-run rideshare. This is on top of what today's sticker already pays for.
Lead-Free water surcharge
Not published yet
This is a new, temporary charge on the water bill. It is $8 a month for a single-family home at the starting tier, and it rises roughly $5 to $8 a month on average so crews can replace at least 20,000 lead lines a year. Together with what the city already spends on lead lines and low-interest loans that the surcharge repays, that pays for about $200 million a year of work. It ends when the last lead line is out.
Water and sewer rates
Up to 1% a year above inflation, for ten years
A household using 5,000 gallons a month pays about $5 a month more by Year 10 under the plan. The cap on the increase is written into city law. The money repays the bonds and low-interest loans that put water mains and sewers on a 100-year replacement schedule.
Productive Land Incentive
$100–150M a year at the full rate (Year 5)
This is an extra property tax charge on vacant land and surface parking lots. It starts at 0% in Year 1. Homes that owners live in are exempt. Half of the money goes to $10,000 grants for homebuyers, and half goes to the Remodel Fund.
Speed-camera money (Street Safety Account)
About $64M in revenue in 2025, before costs
The camera money left after costs goes into a separate account, with its numbers published, that pays to redesign the streets where the cameras are. It's phased in. If speeding falls and this money falls with it, that shows the program is working.
Chicago Ride trip surcharge
$0.50 a trip
A charge of $0.50 is added to each Uber and Lyft ride. Together with fares, it keeps Chicago Ride, the city-run rideshare, running after its one-time start-up money from the River Crossing Fee.
WHAT THE CITY EARNS
This is money from things the city owns and keeps, instead of selling them off.
City-owned EV charging
Starts small; not counted yet
The city owns the curb, the power and the chargers, and keeps all of the profit instead of handing it to a private company. Chargers at the curb are built into every neighborhood rebuild, and the money grows as more Chicagoans drive electric.
Chicago Powers Itself
Not counted yet
The city builds and owns solar, wind, geothermal and neighborhood microgrids (small local power networks). The long-run goal is a city utility like Austin Energy, which sent $125 million to Austin's general fund in fiscal 2025.
Connect the Lake ground rent
$15–20M a year at full buildout
Connect the Lake is a long-term idea for a new lakefront neighborhood built over Lake Shore Drive. The city keeps the new land and leases it for 99 years. The new land would also bring in new property taxes, $275 million to $350 million a year at full buildout, shared with the schools, the parks and the county. The ground rent helps repay the bonds that build the deck over the Drive.
Chicago Sovereign Fund
No figure set
The city takes ownership stakes in green-manufacturing companies it recruits with land, incentives and guaranteed purchasing. The returns come back to Chicago.
Chicago DATA
No figure promised
The city owns its data as a public asset, licenses it and takes ownership stakes in companies that build on it. By city law, anything left after costs and reinvestment goes to the pension debt.