Chicago says 2009 budget outlook is bleak

Chicago officials aren't saying how many city workers might lose their jobs to help fill an estimated $420 million budget hole.

City Chief Financial Officer Paul Volpe said Thursday that nearly everything is on the table to try to right the city's finances.

Volpe says the one exception is that Mayor Richard Daley has said he won't raise property taxes again.

Lost city revenues because of a troubled housing market and higher costs for things like fuel contributed to the deficit projected in the city's 2009 preliminary budget.

Alderman George Cardenas says the city may have to impose sweeping layoffs, cutting as many as 1,800 jobs.

But officials wouldn't give details on possible cuts at a City Hall news conference.