Emanuel rolls out plans for $14.7 million in unspent tax rebate funds

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday responded to aldermen who want leftover property tax rebate program money to be earmarked for anti-violence efforts by laying out his own plans to spend $14.7 million on what he called "critical public safety programs and neighborhood improvement projects."

The money is available because just 25,300 of an estimated 155,000 eligible city homeowners took part in the rebate program, intended to soften the blow of a series of record-high property tax increases. The average rebate check was for $108, and the total amount that will be spent on the rebates and running the program is $3.8 million.

That leaves a bit more than $16 million to use for other purposes after the City Council last year approved setting aside $20 million for the rebates. Last month, the mayor proposed spending $1.3 million to create a "legal protection fund" for immigrants, which aldermen quickly approved.

In recent weeks, Emanuel announced the city would spend millions of dollars more in rebate money to speed up the equipping all police officers with body cameras, rehabilitate vacant homes and create a cybersecurity training program at City Colleges.

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