Office of Budget and Management – BGA Policy 2027 Budget Snapshot

The Office of Budget and Management (OBM) is responsible for the administration of the city’s budget. 

Because OBM oversees the preparation of each department’s budget, as well as the non-departmental “finance general” spending category, the OBM hearing is the best opportunity for City Council to ask questions regarding any parts of the budget that do not have a dedicated departmental hearing, which in this year’s budget are:

• Finance General (non-departmental category)
• Office of the Mayor
• City Council

The snapshot below is specific to OBM’s budget as an operating department. BGA Policy has also prepared separate snapshots for Finance General, City Council, and the Office of the Mayor.

• OBM’s budget increased 23% from the previous year, driven largely by $15 million held in reserve balance from grant funds. (OBM’s appropriations did not include reserve funds in the final version of the 2026 budget passed by the city council.)
  
• Setting aside title changes, promotions, and similar adjustments of positions within general job categories, the 2027 proposal eliminates two recovery team program manager titles (one of them senior) and a grants manager, and adds one position each for the assistant budget director, deputy budget director, and policy analyst titles.
  
• Outside spending appropriations have been reduced in the 2027 budget, with the professional and technical services appropriation down -$2.6 million (-12.6%) from the 2026 budget, and the $2 million delegate agencies appropriation eliminated entirely.

Year-over-year comparisons of OBM’s recent budgets are distorted by federal pandemic funding. In the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, OBM acted as the parent department for the Chicago Rescue Plan, taking budgetary responsibility for billions of dollars in pass-through and third-party spending. 

The temporary placement of most of the city’s pandemic funds within OBM’s departmental budget renders change-over-time comparisons that include the 2021-2023 budget years largely meaningless:

In recent years, OBM’s departmental budget has returned to something more resembling a regular operating budget, albeit one that often still contains a large sum of grant funds held in reserve in addition to operating appropriations. 

OBM’s total appropriations have increased in recent years, from $18.6m in 2025 to $38.6m in 2026 and a proposed increase to $47.4m in 2027.  The current proposal would increase the department’s appropriations by 23% from the previous year.

Most of OBM’s recent budget fluctuations have been within grant funds. Department of Finance actuals and encumbrances data from 2022-2025 shows more modest local fund appropriations, of which OBM spent on average 81.6%% of its budgeted funds, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend.

[from tool: [DEPT] Local Fund Actuals, 2022-2025]

Staffing levels at OBM have increased gradually over the years, with an average annual growth rate in budgeted positions/FTEs of 2% from 2011-2026, compared to the citywide rate of -0.1%. This year’s budget proposal retains the same budgeted headcount as the previous year (although some of the budgeted titles have changed), with a total of 56 positions budgeted for OBM. 

From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, OBM averaged a 9.5%% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

A single budgeted full-time position in the “Exec Administrative Asst II” title  was a persistent vacancy at OBM from Jan-Sept (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data). 

Setting aside title changes, promotions, and similar adjustments of positions within general job categories, the budget eliminates two recovery team program manager titles (one of them senior) and a grants manager, and adds one position each for the assistant budget director, deputy budget director, and policy analyst titles. 

OBM is only 11.1% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, down slightly from the previous year’s 12.8%. The bulk of the department’s appropriations are funded out of the CDBG-based Disaster Recovery Fund and Entitlement Fund, as well as the Grants Management Fund. 

Largest Appropriations

OBM’s largest budgeted expense in the 2027 proposal is outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation, followed by reserve balance held from the entitlement and grants management funds.  

In 2025, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, OBM spent 81.6%% of its locally-funded budget. 

Change from Previous Year

The 2027 budget proposal has OBM holding $15 million in grant fund reserve balance, the largest single-category increase. (OBM’s appropriations did not include reserve funds in the final version of the 2026 budget passed by the city council.) 

Outside spending appropriations have been reduced in the 2027 budget, with the professional and technical services appropriation down -$2.6 million (-12.6%) from the 2026 budget, and the $2 million delegate agencies appropriation eliminated entirely.