In 2011, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel argued that Chicago taxpayers are “not an ATM machine” and can’t afford to be the financial backstop for the $660 million renovation of Soldier Field.
The bonds that financed the Soldier Field project are paid off with part of the city’s hotel tax — but that financing package also assumed hotel tax revenue would grow by a rosy 5.5% a year. When it doesn’t, Chicago taxpayers make up the difference.
Emanuel was bracing for a $1.1 million hit that year, though in the end, the city lost just $185,000 of its state income tax revenue.