Preckwinkle says she won't rule out raising taxes if elected mayor of Chicago

CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - Whoever wins the mayor's election next month will almost immediately have to find hundreds of millions of new dollars for City Hall pensions,

Toni Preckwinkle won't rule out raising taxes, but won't name which ones she's considering.

“No, I’m not going to talk about taxes we're gonna turn to,” Preckwinkle said. “Look, I think I said, ‘efficiencies first.’ I’ve talked about, as you're well aware, the fact we need TIF reform. A third of our property taxes -- 31 percent -- of our property taxes go into TIF districts.”

Like her allies in the teacher’s union and other public employee unions, the Cook County Board president argues that phasing out many so-called TIF districts (Tax increment financing) could free up millions of additional tax dollars. Though it would surely generate fierce opposition from government unions, she implies she might cut city jobs, as she once did at Cook County.

“We refinanced some of our debt. And, in one of the most difficult decisions in my public life, we laid off 1,500 people. So, we've made tough decisions,” Preckwinkle said.

She also implied she could save perhaps $60 million by cracking down on City Hall's strangely secretive program for injured workers. Alderman ed burke lost control of it after the feds arrested him on corruption charges.