Emanuel's Plan To Lower City's Borrowing Costs Approved
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago City Council approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to lower the city's borrowing costs on Wednesday.
But as WBBM Political Reporter Craig Dellimore reports, there was some vocal opposition from a number of city aldermen.
The Emanuel Administration proposed refinancing about $2.5 billion in city-issues bonds, paying them off out of the city's share of state sales taxes.
Ald. David Moore was among five council members who had serious questions about that structure.
"We get major deals like this, and we get a short time to fully vet them -- have we learned anything from the parking tax deal?"
Ald. Jason Ervin, however, says there's no comparison with the ill-advised parking meter deal under former mayor Richard Daley.
"This is nothing more than a revenue bond. We passed revenue bonds for waste water, sewer, O'Hare -- this is a revenue bond in its purest and simplest form."
Emanuel says this deal will cut Chicago's payments.