Like her predecessors, she's chosen to focus on plugging a one-year budget deficit largely with a one-off deal and a number of tax hikes. And also like her predecessors, she's failed to attack the real sources of Chicago's slide toward insolvency.

To close the city's deficit, Lightfoot expects $200 million to come from up-fronting 20 years of savings from a bond refinancing deal that will partially securitize $1.3 billion of debt. The savings will be a one-time event – even though the mayor originally promised not to use one-time sources – leaving a $200 million hole in budgets after 2020.

The mayor proposes to save another $337 million through various efficiencies, including the implementation of zero-based budgeting, department mergers, better debt and tax collection, and various other financial improvements.