by Joseph Weber
Chicago is owed roughly $19 million in unpaid debts and fines from its municipal workers – yet more than half of them are reportedly not enrolled in a payment plan or have had their wages garnished.
Most of the workers are employed by Chicago’s transit authority and public schools, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The multi-million dollar debt is from traffic tickets, water bills and fines.
The news outlet reports the biggest scofflaw is a substitute teacher who over the past 25 years of employment has incurred nearly $200,000 for building code violations, fines and traffic tickets.
The newspaper found 12,761 people who work for the city or its sister agencies despite collectively owing City Hall more than $19 million.
Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson, who had to pay the city nearly $5,000 to settle his own debts for an unpaid water bill and tickets while he was running for mayor, is being pressured to collect the employees’ debt – amid consideration of raising taxes and selling some of the city’s debt to improve its financial situation.
“Before we explore selling the debt, we have to go after scofflaws,” said 34th Ward Alderman Bill Conway. “When debts are owed to the city by its employees, we have mechanisms to address that.”
He also said City Hall can legally garnish as much as 25% of an employee’s paycheck under state and city laws.
According to Truth in Accounting, as of Nov. 13, 2025, Chicago has $11 billion in funded pension liabilities. The nonprofit said that 25% of Chicago’s pension plans are funded. It noted Chicago has a $38.1 billion budget shortfall, which comes to $42,600 per taxpayer.
When talking about the city’s financial issues last year, Johnson said Chicago will “essentially need to do more with less,” according to WTTW. “The truth is that the city is at a crossroads right now,” Johnson said, the outlet reported.
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Joseph Weber is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Background Photo “Chicago City Hall” by Kenneth C. Zirkel. CC BY-SA 4.0.
