Some summer campers, golfers and bowlers would see their fees increase next year under the Chicago Park District’s proposed 2025 budget — but property taxpayers will be spared.
The loss of Pitchfork’s annual weekend festival in Union Park is just a drop in the bucket that district leaders hope will be filled with another event, but uncertainty remains over the two major tenants of the park district’s Soldier Field.
The new fees included in the proposed 2025 budget would apply to bowling, roller skating, port, parking and green fees at the district’s golf courses. Day camp rates will also return to pre-pandemic levels, but only for certain programs, General Superintendent and CEO Rosa Escareño told the Tribune on Tuesday before her budget presentation to the district’s board of trustees.
“We’re looking at this from an equitable perspective, so some of the camps that can absorb and reach 2019 levels will do so,” she said. In areas where low-income families live, “these numbers will not increase yet.”
The district’s property tax levy will increase by $5.3 million, which will encompass new properties that were built and property values unlocked with the expiration of special taxing districts. In total, the levy will reach $324.7 million, but the rate will not increase for taxpayers.
The district will also receive $21.5 million in revenue as part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to generate a record $570 million surplus from Chicago’s tax increment financing districts.
Between Chicago Bears and Fire games and next year’s Oasis concert, the district hopes to generate $56.8 million in gross revenue from Soldier Field, plus $31.2 million from port fees and 10.1 million dollars from golf courses.
Although Soldier Field’s revenue is “essential” to the district, Escareño declined to elaborate on the ongoing storyline — and potential exits — of the Bears and the Fire.
Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto is potentially considering either 78 or Lincoln Yards to build a new 25,000-seat stadium for the football team, Crain’s reported this week. The team’s lease at Soldier Field ends next year.
Although their lease doesn’t end until 2033, the Bears are continuing negotiations for a new home in Arlington Heights, a reinforced dome near current Soldier Field, or settling on the former Michael Reese site.
“Our goal is to ensure that our strong revenue remains and continues into the future so that we can continue to support the vibrancy of the neighborhood,” Escareño said. “Our focus has been to ensure that we continue to ensure their success, to continue to support the benefits that exist at Soldier Field, to ensure that the event attendee experience is strong…Right now, there are many stories to tell. and I think what we’re focused on is just continuing to have a strong relationship and partnership with these sports teams.
The Obama Presidential Center will also be nearing completion in Jackson Park next year. Its sports center is expected to be completed in 2025, and the museum will open in spring 2026. Although plans to combine golf courses owned by the nearby park district into a PGA-level course designed by Tiger Woods are in the works. dead, Escareño said they are not dead. .
“We haven’t had a conversation recently, but I know there is still a lot of interest in conversations about the future of the beautification of the Jackson Park golf course, so yes, we are prepared to continue these conversations,” she said. “I just confirmed that there’s still interest in that future development, and so as a team we haven’t met in a little while, but we’re keeping that door open, and no, I haven’t heard that it’s over.”
However, losing Pitchfork “was kind of a surprise,” she said. This is not only a blow to the summer calendar, but it means the district will lose more than $200,000 in permit fees. “There is a loss there. But what is important: we always keep our doors open. We know there’s a lot of interest in operating in Chicago…we’d love to reconnect with Pitchfork, but it’s a business decision on their part.
The budget also includes the cost of a new contract with SEIU Local 73, the union that represents about two-thirds of the district’s workers such as instructors, attendants, landscapers and security guards. The deal, reached in the spring after threats of a strike, will raise the lowest hourly wage before the agreement — $16 — to $21 an hour next year and increase employees’ monthly wages by 4 percent.
After a shortage of national lifeguards and a sexual harassment scandal thwarted efforts to open the city’s pools and beaches amid the pandemic, higher salaries and training programs helped ensure that lifeguard staff lifeguards were back on track last summer. “I have teams already working to ensure that lifeguard training is already happening in November and December, so we are already working to ensure that next summer will be as successful, if not more successful, than last year “, “said Escareño.
The district, whose pension funds were at risk of being insolvent as early as 2028, recently climbed a steep funding ramp to ensure its pension contributions match actuarial calculations that would pay long-term debts.
Thanks to unexpectedly large state corporate tax revenues in recent years, the district made a lump sum payment that helped stem the losses. Pension costs are relatively stable for next year, increasing from $56.9 million to $59.7 million.
A final board vote on the budget is expected by Dec. 13.
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