By Fran Spielman, includes “The mayor proposed a $16.7 billion budget … For the second straight year, Lightfoot’s budget is balanced with one-time revenues. … Once again, the mayor’s plan to eliminate her own budget shortfall includes offloading costs to Chicago Public Schools. … Separate and apart from the $1.2 billion debt refinancing is the financial shell game Lightfoot has devised to get around the U.S. Treasury Department’s ban on using federal COVID-19 relief funds to retire debt. …”