Shruti Singh

Chicago homeowners are getting hit with a record property tax hike after the city’s downtown office buildings and other commercial real estate values fell again.

Investors and dealers are trading municipal bonds at a record pace this year, driven by strong government sales and a burst of volatility tied to tariffs and interest rate moves.

For Chicago, it was bad enough that the Bears are planning to abandon the town they’ve called home for more than a century.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to close nearly half of next year’s $1.19 billion deficit with new or higher taxes on large corporations, big tech companies and the rich.

Chicago, which faces a roughly $1 billion budget gap next year, has increased a revolving line of credit with RBC Capital Markets by $100 million and extended the maturity date by more than two years, according to an amendment to an agreement dating to December 2021.

The steady drum beat of federal funding threats totaling billions of dollars is renewing municipal investors’ qualms about lower-rated state and local borrowers.

The White House announced Friday it was withholding more than $2 billion for transportation projects in Chicago and examining ways to reduce federal funding to Portland, Oregon, the latest bid to use the shutdown to target political opponents in Democratic strongholds.

Investors are demanding higher premiums to buy Chicago muni bonds as Mayor Brandon Johnson wades through a myriad of options to close a deficit that tops $1 billion for the year ahead.

Chicago is stepping in to lend cash to its underfunded pensions so they have enough money to avoid asset sales to cover retirement checks as they wait for property taxes to come in after a computer issue delayed collections.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget working group has given him dozens of options — including furloughs, hiring freezes, fee increases and a property tax hike tied to inflation — to choose from as he works to close a $1.15 billion deficit for next year.