A substitute trainer owes City Hall practically $200,000 for constructing code violations, fines and visitors tickets he racked up over the previous 25 years, making him the one greatest debtor working for the town of Chicago or its sister businesses.
A convicted financial institution robber landed an entry-level job with the CTA’s Second Chance program though City Hall says he owes greater than $136,000 in fines, principally for consuming in public and promoting particular person cigarettes close to Douglass Park — a possible case of mistaken identification since he was in jail when the police issued these tickets.
The operator of a West Side spiritual retailer owed the town greater than $28,000 in water payments, but it surely didn’t hold her from touchdown a job as a workers assistant to a City Council member who’s pushing Mayor Brandon Johnson to gather cash from deadbeats.
They are amongst 12,761 folks who work for the town or its sister businesses regardless of collectively owing City Hall greater than $19.5 million for delinquent water payments, parking violations, rushing tickets, building-code violations and different infractions, in accordance to knowledge the town’s finance division supplied to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a public information request.
Nearly 80% of these scofflaws have jobs with the Chicago Board of Education or the Chicago Transit Authority, owing practically $15.7 million to the town, information present.
When it comes to hiring, the Chicago Public Schools and the CTA say they don’t flip away candidates who owe cash to City Hall though the town can later garnish their paychecks.
The CTA “does not consider debt owed to the city of Chicago when making hiring decisions,” the company stated in a written assertion. “Additionally, the CTA is unable to deduct city debts from employee paychecks without a court order for wage garnishment or if an employee voluntarily agrees to the deductions.”
Yet greater than half of all metropolis employees who owe the town cash have by no means been enrolled in a cost plan with City Hall or had their paychecks garnished to pay their money owed, in accordance to a Sun-Times evaluation of metropolis information.
These workers owe a fraction of the $8 billion of unpaid debt that Chicago officers have failed to gather over the previous 30 years, together with $1 billion that has been added since Johnson took office in May 2023.
A push to promote metropolis debt
As Johnson was pushing for brand spanking new taxes and costs to balance his budget final fall, a majority of the 50 Chicago City Council members ordered him to discover promoting not less than $1 billion value of debt, hoping it will herald millions.
It’s unclear whether or not any folks or companies will submit bids to purchase debt owed to City Hall, every little thing from unpaid water payments to parking tickets, because the metropolis’s Finance Department tells the Chicago Sun-Times that some of the money owed may very well be owed by metropolis workers who have died.
“Before we explore selling the debt, we have to go after scofflaws,” stated thirty fourth Ward Ald. Bill Conway.
“When debts are owed to the city by its employees, we have mechanisms to address that,” he stated, noting that City Hall can legally garnish as a lot as 25% of an worker’s paycheck below state and metropolis legal guidelines.
Johnson, who had to pay the town practically $5,000 to settle his own money owed for unpaid water invoice and tickets whereas he was operating for mayor, has repeatedly balked at having debt collectors hound folks to pay their money owed to the town.
Conway, a former prosecutor whose political profession has been financially supported by his rich father, has a special viewpoint.
“It’s appropriate to pursue debt collection for people who have the means to pay,’’ he said. “The city does employ seven law firms to help with debt collection.”
Johnson’s finance group declined to talk about money owed owed by any particular worker, however the division “regularly provides lists of outstanding debts to city departments and sister agencies,” the mayor’s deputy press secretary Griffin Krueger stated. “Debts are tracked through the city’s collection systems, and individuals are notified of outstanding balances and the available options to resolve them.”
CPS trainer’s tab? $197,052
For 17 years, Walter Lee Turner has been a substitute trainer for CPS, paid $24.82 an hour.
During that point, Turner has owed the town of Chicago for a range of unpaid money owed — from constructing code violations on residential property he owns to unpaid parking tickets, metropolis information present.
He owes the town $197,052, together with $58,000 in penalties and curiosity, metropolis information present.
Over the final eight years, City Hall has obtained eight garnishment orders in opposition to Turner, directing the varsity system to withhold cash from his paychecks. It’s unclear how a lot the town has collected. In half, that’s as a result of he retains incurring new money owed.
“They’ve been garnishing,” Turner stated. “I didn’t go to fight it because I owe a lot.”
Turner filed for chapter final summer time with out the aide of an legal professional. His petition doesn’t point out the cash he owes City Hall, the property he owns or his failure to file state earnings tax returns.
On high of his money owed to City Hall, Turner additionally owes Cook County practically $20,000 in delinquent property taxes on his Chatham apartment, together with 5 different properties and a vacant lot within the metropolis and two properties in Harvey, in accordance to county information. Four of these properties weren’t disclosed in his chapter petition.
A chapter court docket trustee has requested a decide to dismiss Turner’s petition, which is one of 13 chapter petitions he has filed since 1994.
Six years in the past, CPS determined to cease disqualifying job candidates who owe cash to the town, sustaining these candidates want a job to pay their money owed.
“A candidate’s debt to the city of Chicago is not among the factors considered when making a hiring decision at CPS. Instead, the district prioritizes a candidate’s qualifications, experience and ability to support student success,” in accordance to a written assertion from CPS officers.
City Hall’s finance division recurrently combs the payrolls, in search of scofflaws who are accumulating paychecks from the town or its sister businesses, making an attempt to gather money owed by garnishments or cost plans.
In jail however nonetheless ticketed
City Hall’s information present the worker with the second-largest debt is Nikita Hampton, 58, who has a low-level job with the CTA after he spent greater than 20 years in a federal jail for 11 financial institution robberies on the North Side.
Johnson’s administration supplied the Sun-Times with information exhibiting Hampton owes the town $136,000 — $75,450 in fines, $60,108 in curiosity and $1,320 in charges — from 34 citations Chicago police issued in his title between 2010 and 2019.
There’s a $200 high quality for using a bicycle on the sidewalk close to Douglass Park on March 29, 2016. On July 18, 2017, there’s a $5,000 high quality for promoting unfastened cigarettes on the road close to Douglass Park. On July 25, 2017, police issued a $10,000 high quality to Hampton for promoting unfastened cigarettes and not using a legitimate tobacco license on the sidewalk close to Douglass Park.
Hampton was in jail when all 34 citations had been issued in his title, seemingly for his namesake son, who was fatally stabbed three years in the past. That’s troublesome to affirm because the metropolis redacted the start dates and addresses from these tickets.
“No, that is not me,” Hampton stated. “That must be somebody else. I didn’t get out until ‘23, so that’s not me. I don’t know how they got that confused with me. All you got to do is just check with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I went in 2003 and didn’t get out until 2023. I don’t need no problems with my job with the city, or none of that, because they got some wrong information.”
Though metropolis information present Hampton owes $136,180, the town hasn’t tried to garnish his CTA paycheck or enroll him in a cost plan.
City officers gained’t talk about the Hampton citations.
A federal decide launched Hampton from jail in December 2023. Seven months later, he bought a job as a bus upkeep apprentice within the CTA’s Second Chance program. He was promoted to a practice security employee a couple of months in the past, and now makes $23.93 an hour.
‘I’m on a cost plan’
Elizabeth Lockhart owed City Hall hundreds of {dollars} for her water invoice when she landed a $70,000-a-year job in November 2024 as an assistant to thirty seventh Ward Ald. Emma Mitts, one of quite a few City Council members pushing the mayor to gather cash from debtors earlier than elevating taxes.
Mitts stated she wasn’t conscious Lockhart owed the town cash till being requested about that by a Sun-Times reporter.
“I had no knowledge of that until I saw your email. I asked her about it, and she said she’s on a payment plan,” stated Mitts, who stated she doesn’t “have anything to do with the city on their hiring process.”
Lockhart can also be govt director of the Healing Temple Church of God in Christ and proprietor of the Queen Liz Gospel Expression and Cafe in Oak Park.
Asked about her delinquent water invoice, Lockhart stated, “Why does the Sun-Times care if city employees owe money? I don’t owe the city money. I’m on a payment plan.”
Lockhart owes the town $28,621.64 for her delinquent water invoice. She’s amongst 32 City Council workers who owe a mixed $82,014 to the town treasury. She’s the one largest debtor.
“We have to make sure we’re doing everything to collect that money,” Mitts stated. “I always thought everybody had to pay their bills.”
