Rahm Emanuel Budget 2013: Chicago Mayor Aims For No New Taxes, Fees (VIDEO)

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday delivered his 2013 budget address to the City Council.

The mayor's proposed budget contains no new taxes or fees -- in the face of a $300 million budget shortfall, NBC Chicago reports.

"We will not raise property taxes; we will not raise sales taxes; we will not raise the fuel tax; we will not raise the amusement tax," Emanuel said Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

(Read the mayor's full address, as prepared.)

The mayor is also eliminating the city's employee head tax by the end of 2013, according to CBS Chicago.

Emanuel added that investments will be made in after-school and health care programs for the city's youth and that 500 new police officers will be hired, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Those investments will be made possible by the cutting of 275 additional administrative positions and declaring $25 million worth of TIF funding as surplus, among other savings and projected revenue increases.

Still, the mayor referenced some gloom in his address, among his listing of what Emanuel deems to be his most noteworthy accomplishments of his first term in office.

The mayor warned that the city is facing a looming pension crisis and that city workers will soon need to up their pension payments, the Tribune reports.

"If we choose to keep those services and make no changes to our pension system, you and I would have to ask taxpayers to pay 150 percent more in property taxes," the mayor said Wednesday. "That is unacceptable to me. I think it is safe to assume it is unacceptable to you. And I know it is absolutely unacceptable to the homeowners of Chicago."

Emanuel did not offer specifics about his plans for reforming the system.

When Emanuel introduced his inaugural budget as Chicago mayor last fall, his plan -- which included a number of increased fees and fines, police station closures and library cuts -- was met with widespread criticism.