2026 budget explained
Why do Chicago’s net and gross budgets differ?
The published City net view removes money counted twice across funds and includes a separate negative OBM adjustment. Neither figure is the combined budget of City, CPS and Parks.
City reconciliation: gross $18,668,568,460.00 minus counted-twice memo $1,709,026,955.00 plus OBM adjustment (-$116,988,502.00) equals net $16,842,553,003.00. The adjustment is negative and is not part of the counted-twice memo.
Figures in the published tree
| Budget box | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| City of Chicago | $16,842,553,003.00 | Adopted/approved budget |
| Money counted twice (not part of the City total) | $1,709,026,955.00 | Adopted/approved budget |
| Adjustment the budget office makes that no line explains | -$116,988,502.00 | adjustment |
How to read this
The counted-twice root documents internal transactions rather than additional services. The negative OBM adjustment is a separate reconciliation item. Do not add either row as a new government budget.
Limits and method
Different publications may use different definitions of gross, net and fund transfers. The adjustment is not a spending category whose final recipients are known; inspect its budget box and source before interpreting it.
These are three separate governments, not one official consolidated City budget. The City and Park District use 2026 budgets, while CPS FY2026 runs July 2025 through June 2026. Transfers across governments may overlap. See methods and unresolved gaps.
Primary sources
These official references are attached to the cited budget boxes in the exported tree, rather than inferred from unrelated search results.
Data export: . Dataset, schema and version.