Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, with Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett, Budget Director Susie Park, and Comptroller Reshma Soni, released the 2022-2026 Mid-Year Budget Forecast, which provides a comprehensive, forward-looking analysis of the City’s year-end estimates, future revenues, expenditures, and budget process. The Mid-Year Budget Forecast projects an $85M budget gap for FY2024 as well as relatively low gaps of $124M for 2025 and $145M for 2026. To the extent that the FY2024 budget gap is addressed with all structural solutions, the FY2025 budget gap will be $39M. To the extent that the FY2025 budget gap is structured with all structural solutions, the FY2026 budget gap will be $21M. The City has reduced debt by $747M over the last four years and, for the first time in more than 20 years, is now expected to pay down $300M to 400M a year in debt. This increased financial capacity allowed the City to finance the first tranche of the Chicago Works Plan and Chicago Recovery Plan through FY2023 without increasing the City’s debt load.