Mayoral candidates face off over Chicago budget

CHICAGO (WLS) -- There are three weeks left before the run-off election for Chicago mayor, and both candidates came out swinging during their debate Monday night, where the central issue was the city's budget.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed expanding the sales tax to include services and a city-owned casino to find new revenue to meet the fiscal crisis, noting that his plan specifically avoided raising property taxes.

Garcia says he won't suggest property or any other tax increase until after he's elected and appoints a commission to study how the city spends its money.

"You cannot move forward until you show Chicagoans where the tax dollars are going," Garcia said. "We need to be honest with taxpayers, show them the truth, then come to terms with what the difficult choices are going to be."

Emanuel fired back, saying, "We don't know what the Commissioner's going to do the day after the election."

The Emanuel campaign released an internet ad less than12 hours after the debate that highlights Garcia's lack of budget strategy. But budget watchdog Ralph Martire says both candidates, for political reasons, are dodging the only city controlled revenue source big enough to address the problem.

"If you look at the tools in the kit on the revenue side of the ledger that are available to the city, the biggest one is the property tax," Martire says.

The mayor's plan for a city-owned casino and expanded sales tax would have to be approved by the State General Assembly in separate bills signed by the governor. If both measures were somehow approved this year, the money still would not be available when the $500 million pension becomes due at the end of 2015.