Emanuel defends record property tax hike as bills hit mailboxes

Five days after agreeing to raise property taxes by another $250 million for teachers pensions, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended the record increase for police and fire pensions and school construction reflected in property tax bills now landing like a thud in Chicago mailboxes.

The mayor was asked if he had "any words of consolation" for those taxpayers "stunned or even outraged" by their property tax bills, which reflect the $588 million property tax increase approved by the city council last fall.

His response essentially was, "I told you so."

"When I ran for office, one of the major issues was removing the doubt over our economic future (caused by) unfunded pensions. All four of 'em were unfunded. I was clear that the period of time in which we put our politics ahead of our responsibility had ended. That we were gonna do the tough things necessary to put our fiscal house in order," Emanuel said.

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