Chicago mayor institutes hiring free ahead of budget address

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is calling for a hiring freeze across all city departments ahead of a planned speech on the city's budget deficit.

The hiring freeze was outlined in a memo to department heads this week and will remain in effect until further notice.

When Lightfoot was running for mayor, she believed Chicago's budget deficit was around $300 million. She later discovered the city is actually in the red by about $1 billion.

Budget director Susie Park says the hiring freeze is just one part of a broad approach the city must take to restore its finances. Lightfoot has mentioned raising taxes on professional fees and increasing the real estate transfer tax on home sales over a million dollars.

Lightfoot is planning an Aug. 29 speech on the deficit.