Daley Recruits Former Chicago Federal Reserve CEO To Tutor Aldermen On Budget

UPDATE

The meeting didn't clarify much for aldermen, the Tribune reports.

Aldermen who attended a closed-door briefing at City Hall this morning said mayoral aides gave them no new information about how the Daley administration plans to attack a $420 million budget deficit.

"It was all doom and gloom," said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th). "There was nothing about what we can do. We're still in the dark."

--------------
Mayor Richard Daley's top financial advisers have invited aldermen for more closed-door meetings Thursday to discuss the city's 2009 budget and the recent announcement of an agreement to lease Midway Airport to a private operator.

The administration has recruited Michael Moskow, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, to talk to City Council members about the state of the economy, sources said.

The mayor blames the nation's economic woes for a $420 million budget shortfall, which he has described as the worst money crunch of his 19 years in office.

Daley said he will present his budget proposal at a special council meeting Oct. 15. He's also said he has no other choice but to slash about 1,000 jobs from the public payroll.

Read the entire article here.