Feb 17, 2026
As the City of Chicago mulls getting taxpayers to cough up on unpaid parking tickets, water bills and other fines, it turns out municipal workers themselves owe a total $23.5 million in such debts.
According to CBS News, public employees owe Chicago $23.5 million in debt for parking tickets, water bills, other fees. 10 Chicago Board of Education employees and one in three Chicago Transit Authority workers is currently delinquent (1). The revelation is eroding public trust at a time when the city’s $1.15-billion deficit is making headlines.
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Civic Federation’s president Joe Ferguson told CBS News that the city should demand its own workers “pay up in the same way that regular taxpayers — who are paying their salaries — are being called upon to pay up."
Mayor Brandon Johnson hinted that the city may have to lay off staff midyear to balance the budget (2).
For city residents who depend on school programs, sanitation services, city administration and more, any talk of layoffs is cause for concern.
Chicago’s situation demonstrates how interrelated municipal and individual debt can be.
Collecting ‘low-hanging fruit’ in municipal debt could prevent layoffs
There are bigger sources of debt in Chicago, including the $231.2 million the city spent on police misconduct lawsuits in 2025 alone — all of that coming from taxpayers’ pockets (3).
Overall, the city has paid $491.7 million in police misconduct settlements and verdicts since 2019. But Ferguson says collecting municipal debt from municipal employees would be easier than collecting it from other city residents, as the City can garnish employee wages and set up payment plans — including debt forgiveness once a certain amount is collected.
It could help reduce the odds of layoffs to balance the City’s budget.
“It doesn't solve the overall problems that we have, but a lot of the solving is actually in small bits,” Ferguson told CBS News. “[It’s] low-hanging fruit to the point where the fruit just fell off the trees and is ready to be picked up if you actually make the effort.”
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How municipal debt collection works
The debt collection company Southwest Recovery Services notes that municipal debt is a tricky area for collections due to increased public scrutiny (4).
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But if city fines and fees go unpaid, councils are left with no choice but to raise taxes, cut services, defer infrastructure projects or all of the above. In fact all of the above are on the table for Chicago right now.
In the meantime, efforts are underway to coax public employees in Chicago to pay up.
City Comptroller Michael D. Belsky has a plan to engage leadership at Chicago’s sister agencies to encourage employees to comply with the collections rules.
And Chicago is already employing wage garnishments and debt relief programs to recover some of the funds.
Correction — Feb. 17, 2026: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Civic Federation authored a report on unpaid fines from municipal workers. In truth, an investigation by CBS News was the source of the information.
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
CBS News (1, 2), WTTW News (3); Southwest Recovery Services (4)
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Rebecca Holland is dedicated to creating clear, accessible advice for readers navigating the complexities of money management, investing and financial planning. Her work has been featured in respected publications including the Financial Post, The Globe & Mail, and the Edmonton Journal.
