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:
The snapshot below is specific to OBM’s budget as an operating department. BGA Policy has also prepared separate snapshots for Finance General and the Office of the Mayor.
Table of Contents
Departmental Highlights
Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2025 Budget
| 2025 Budgeted | 2026 Proposed | Net Change | Percent Change | Average Annual Rate of Change (2011-2025) | Inflation-adjusted Rate of Change (2011-2024) | |
| Appropriations | $18,568,096 | $38,560,702 | $19,992,606 | 107.67% | 9.3% | 14.6% |
| Positions & FTEs | 57 | 56 | -1 | -1.75% | 2.3% | NA |
- OBM is 12.8% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, with grant funding increasing from 75.2% to 87.2% of the department’s appropriations. Close to two-thirds of the proposed 2026 budget for OBM comes from new grant funds, the Disaster Recovery Fund ($20.8 million in appropriations) and Entitlement Fund ($7.3 million).
- OBM’s budget more than doubled from the previous year, driven primarily by dramatic increases in outside contracting and pass-through delegate agency spending from new grant funds.
- The professional and technical services appropriation (outside contracting) increased by $18.3 million (709.5%), nearly all of it from a new Disaster Recovery grant fund.
- The proposed OBM budget includes $2 million appropriated for delegate agencies (pass-through spending), a category for which OBM did not have an appropriation in 2025, from the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.
- Also grant funded was a new $7 million Indirect Costs appropriation, a category OBM did not have in the previous year, drawn from a new Entitlement fund.
- Just over $1 million in new Salary Provision appropriations, another category that was not included in OBM’s 2025 budget, also came primarily from the Disaster Recovery Fund.
- This year’s budget proposal contains a net reduction of one position in OBM’s budgeted workforce, a -1.8% reduction compared to a citywide -1.2% decline.
- In contrast to its grant spending, OBM’s local fund appropriations are primarily dedicated to personnel costs. From 2022-2024, OBM spent an average of 78.3% of its local funds budget, compared to a citywide average of 86.4% spend.
Historical Context
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 still contains a large sum of grant funds held in reserve in addition to operating appropriations.
From 2024 to 2025 OBM’s departmental appropriation declined -40.5%, a reduction more than reversed by this year’s 107.7% increase:
Most of OBM’s recent budget fluctuations have been within grant funds. Department of Finance actuals and encumbrances data from 2022-2024 shows more modest local fund appropriations, of which OBM spent on average 78.3% of its budgeted funds, compared to the citywide average 86.4% local fund spend:
Staffing levels at OBM have increased gradually over the years, with an average annual growth rate in budgeted positions/FTEs of 2.3% from 2011-2025, compared to the citywide rate of -0.1%. This year’s budget proposal contains a net reduction of one position in OBM’s budgeted workforce, a -1.8% reduction compared to a citywide -1.2% decline.
From February through September of 2025, the months for which the city released vacancy data, OBM averaged a 12.7% vacancy rate, slightly higher than the citywide average of 11.2%.
None of the department’s budgeted positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the same title/division/section/subsection combination vacant for all eight months of available data).
Staffing
OBM’s 2026 budget proposal adds an Assistant Budget Director position and a Grants Manager position, while eliminating one position each in the Project Manager, Principal Operations Analyst, and Policy Analyst titles. A Senior Financial Analyst position was also replaced with a Financial Analyst position.
Appropriations
OBM is 12.8% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, with grant funding increasing from 75.2% to 87.2% of the department’s appropriations.
Close to two-thirds of the proposed 2026 budget for OBM comes from new grant funds, the Disaster Recovery Fund ($20.8 million in appropriations) and Entitlement Fund ($7.3 million).
| Fund Code | Fund | 2025 Budgeted | 2026 Proposed | Net Change from 2025 | Percent Change from 2025 | Percent of 2026 Recommended Funds |
| 0 | Disaster Recovery Fund | $0 | $20,821,000 | $20,821,000 | New Fund | 54.0% |
| 0 | Entitlement Fund | $0 | $7,286,000 | $7,286,000 | New Fund | 18.9% |
| 100 | Corporate Fund | $4,017,326 | $4,184,256 | $166,930 | 4.2% | 10.9% |
| 0 | Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund | $10,900,000 | $2,834,000 | -$8,066,000 | -74.0% | 7.3% |
| 75 | Grants Management Fund | $2,822,000 | $2,698,000 | -$124,000 | -4.4% | 7.0% |
| 0 | Tax Increment Financing Administration Fund | $298,542 | $417,550 | $119,008 | 39.9% | 1.1% |
| 200 | Water Fund | $298,228 | $319,896 | $21,668 | 7.3% | 0.8% |
| 0 | Federal Grant Fund | $232,000 | $0 | -$232,000 | -100.0% | 0.0% |
Largest Appropriations
OBM’s largest budgeted appropriations in the 2026 budget proposal largely correspond to the new funds, with $19.6 million of the department’s $20.9 million in budgeted outside contracting (professional and technical services appropriation account) coming from the Disaster Relief fund, and all of the department’s budgeted indirect costs from the Entitlement fund.
A further $2 million in pass-through funding for delegate agencies comes entirely from the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.
OBM’s locally-funded appropriations are relatively small compared to the 2026 proposed grant-funded appropriations.
Because the 2022-2024 actuals datasets from the Department of Finance do not correspond exactly to the same appropriation accounts as the budgets presented by the Office of Budget and Management, an exact comparison of real spend to budget is not possible at the appropriation account level.
However, in 2024, the most recent year for which complete actuals are available, the vast majority of OBM’s local fund spend was on personnel services budget (a category that includes salaries and wages, overtime, and other compensation-related appropriation accounts). Contracting was a relatively minor expense category, with only $40,500 budgeted from local funds, of which OBM spent roughly half.
Change from Previous Year
OBM’s outside contracting budget in the 2026 proposal increased dramatically from the previous year’s budget due to new grant funding, with the professional and technical services appropriation increasing $18.3 million (709.5%) and $2 million appropriated for delegate agencies, a category for which OBM did not have an appropriation in 2025.
Also grant funded was a new $7 million Indirect Costs appropriation, a category OBM did not have in the previous year, drawn from a new Entitlement fund.
OBM also had just over $1 million in new Salary Provision appropriations, another category that was not included in OBM’s 2025 budget, primarily from the Disaster Recovery fund.
The largest reduction from the previous year’s budget was the elimination of the reserve balance appropriation, formerly $8.7 million in 2025. According to OBM responses at the previous year’s budget hearings, the reserve balance appropriation account is used for grant funds that will be rolled over into the next year, and does not represent current-year expenditures.
