Watchdog Says Chicago Is Owed at Least $8.1 Billion and Lacks Tools to Count or Collect

Overview

• The inspector general’s audit puts unpaid city fines, fees and service charges at a floor of $8.1 billion and says the full total is unknown because no office tracks all debt.
• The Sun-Times’ review points to major buckets that have swelled with interest, including about $810 million in unpaid water and sewer bills, roughly $1.5 billion in ambulance fees, and more than $3 billion tied to administrative hearings.
• The report finds departments use old, siloed systems that do not connect, which blocks the finance office from seeing all accounts or coordinating a plan to collect them.
• City officials dispute the need for the watchdog’s fixes, citing a debt-check portal, easier payment plans and a revenue committee, and they also say they will improve reporting, seek agreements with sister agencies and explore technical checks on contractors.
• Officials say much of the backlog is likely uncollectible because debts sit with dissolved firms, deceased people or those who left the state, and the burden falls hardest on poorer neighborhoods and even thousands of city workers on payment plans.