City should annex suburbs, McCarthy says. No thanks, suburbs say

Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy on Tuesday proposed annexing suburban communities - including Norridge, Oak Park, Oak Lawn and Evergreen Park - to generate revenue needed to chip away at a looming $1 billion spike in pension payments.

During an endorsement session before the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board, McCarthy suggested annexation as a double barreled solution to Chicago's alarming loss of population and the $270 million pension payment in the 2020 budget that will be the first for Chicago's newly-elected mayor.

"We really need to talk about annexation. Nobody wants to talk about it. It's a political football. (But) we've lost population. I could tell you how we could scoop up almost 160,000 people in a heartbeat," McCarthy said.

"Annexation will give us the ability to combine municipal services, which will be cost savings, and at the same time expand our tax base. The incentive for them is I could name like six or seven jurisdictions that have higher composite taxes than we pay here. … There's no downside to it except for the fact we're locked into the way we do things."

The last time Chicago annexed any suburban land, the purpose was to build O'Hare Airport in the 1950s.

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