A substitute teacher owes City Hall nearly $200,000 for building code violations, fines and traffic tickets over the past 25 years, making him the largest debtor working for the city of Chicago or its affiliated agencies.
A convicted bank robber got an entry-level job in the CTA’s Second Chance program, even though City Hall says he owes more than $136,000 in fines, mostly for drinking in public and selling personalized cigarettes near Douglas Park — a possible case of mistaken identity because he was in jail when police issued those tickets.
The operator of a religious store on the West Side owed the city a water bill of more than $28,000, but that didn’t stop him from getting a job as a staff assistant to a City Council member who was pressuring Mayor Brandon Johnson to collect money from deadbeats.
They are among 12,761 people who work for the city or its affiliated agencies, while City Hall collectively owes more than $19.5 million for unpaid water bills, parking violations, speeding tickets, building-code violations and other violations, according to data provided by the city Finance Department to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a public records request.
Records show that about 80% of those defrauded have jobs with the Chicago Board of Education or the Chicago Transit Authority, which the city owes about $15.7 million.
When it comes to hiring, Chicago Public Schools and the CTA say they do not refuse applicants who owe City Hall money, even if the city may later pay their salaries.
“CTA does not consider debt owed by the City of Chicago when making hiring decisions,” the agency said in a written statement. “Additionally, CTA is unable to deduct city debts from employee pay without a court order for a pay increase or if an employee voluntarily agrees to the deduction.”
Yet, according to a Sun-Times analysis of city records, more than half of the city employees who are owed money by the city have never enrolled in a payment plan with City Hall or had their wages garnished to pay off their debts.
These workers are owed a fraction of the $8 billion in unpaid debt that Chicago officials have failed to collect over the past 30 years, including $1 billion added since Johnson took office in May 2023.
Attempt to sell city debt
As Johnson was pushing for new taxes and fees to balance his budget last fall, a majority of the 50 members of the Chicago City Council ordered him to explore selling at least $1 billion of debt, hoping it would bring in millions.
It’s unclear whether an individual or business will bid to buy everything from water bills to parking tickets owed by City Hall, as the city Finance Department told the Chicago Sun-Times that some of the debt may be owed to city employees who have died.
“We have to get past the red flag before we even consider selling the debt,” said 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway.
“When city employees owe debts, we have mechanisms in place to address it,” he said, noting that City Hall can legally garnish up to 25% of an employee’s pay under state and city laws.
Johnson, who had to pay the city about $5,000 to pay off his own debt for unpaid water bills and tickets while running for mayor, has repeatedly objected to debt collectors harassing people to repay their debt to the city.
As part of the 2026 budget, aldermen have asked Mayor Brandon Johnson to explore selling at least $1 billion of debt, in hopes it would return millions to the city’s coffers.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times file photo
Conway, a former prosecutor whose political career has been financially supported by his wealthy father, has a different perspective.
“Debt recovery is only appropriate for those who have the means to pay,” he said. “City hires seven law firms to help collect debt.”
Johnson’s finance team declined to discuss outstanding debts by any specific employee, but the department “regularly provides lists of outstanding debts to city departments and partner agencies,” said Griffin Krueger, the mayor’s deputy press secretary. “Debts are tracked through the city’s collection systems, and individuals are informed of outstanding balances and the options available to resolve them.”
CPS teacher’s tab? $197,052
For 17 years, Walter Lee Turner has been a substitute teacher for CPS, paid $24.82 an hour.
During that time, Turner owed a variety of unpaid debts to the city of Chicago – ranging from building code violations on residential property to unpaid parking tickets, city records show.
City records show he owes the city $197,052, which includes $58,000 in fines and interest.
Over the past eight years, City Hall has obtained eight garnishment orders against Turner, instructing the school system to withhold money from his salary. It’s unclear how much the city has collected. In part, this is because he keeps racking up new debts.
“They’re decorating,” Turner said. “I didn’t go out fighting it because I owed a lot.”
Turner filed for bankruptcy last summer without the assistance of an attorney. His petition does not mention money owed to City Hall, property he owned or his failure to file state income tax returns.
In addition to his debts to City Hall, Turner owes Cook County about $20,000 in delinquent property taxes on his Chatham condo, as well as five other homes in the city and a vacant lot and two homes in Harvey, according to county records. Four of those assets were not disclosed in his bankruptcy petition.
A bankruptcy court trustee has asked the judge to dismiss Turner’s petition, one of 13 bankruptcy petitions he has filed since 1994.
Six years ago, CPS decided to stop disqualifying job applicants who owed the city money, ensuring that those applicants needed a job to pay off their debt.
According to a written statement from CPS officials, “A candidate’s debt to the City of Chicago is not among the factors considered when making a hiring decision at CPS. Instead, the District prioritizes the candidate’s qualifications, experience, and ability to support student success.”
City Hall’s Finance Department regularly checks the payroll, looking for impersonators who are collecting paychecks from the city or its affiliated agencies, trying to collect debts through garnishment or payment schemes.
In jail but still ticket issued
City Hall records show the second-highest debtor is employee Nikita Hampton, 58, who took a low-level job at CTA after spending more than 20 years in federal prison for 11 bank robberies on the North Side.
Johnson’s administration provided records to the Sun-Times that show Hampton owes the city $136,000 — $75,450 in fines, $60,108 interest and $1,320 in fees — from 34 citations issued in his name by Chicago police between 2010 and 2019.
City Hall billed a man, now a CTA worker, thousands of dollars in fines linked to crimes committed in Douglas Park, even though the man was in jail at the time of the crime.
There is a $200 fine for bicycling on the sidewalk near Douglas Park on March 29, 2016. On July 18, 2017, there was a $5,000 fine for selling loose cigarettes on the street near Douglas Park. On July 25, 2017, police fined Hampton $10,000 for selling loose cigarettes without a valid tobacco license on a sidewalk near Douglas Park.
Hampton was in jail at the time when all 34 citations were issued in his name, presumably for his namesake son, who had been fatally stabbed three years earlier. This is difficult to confirm because the city has removed dates of birth and addresses from those stamps.
“No, that’s not me,” Hampton said. “It must be someone else. I didn’t get out until ’23, so that’s not me. I don’t know how they got mixed up with me. You just have to check with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I went in in 2003 and didn’t get out until 2023. I ain’t got no problem with my job with the city, or any of that, because they got some wrong information.”
Although city records show Hampton is owed $136,180, the city has not tried to increase her CTA salary or enroll her in a payment plan.
City officials would not discuss the Hampton citations.
A federal judge released Hampton from prison in December 2023. Seven months later, he got a job as a bus maintenance trainee in the CTA’s Second Chance program. A few months ago he was promoted to train security employee and now makes $23.93 an hour.
‘I’m on a payment plan’
When Elizabeth Lockhart got the $70,000-a-year job as assistant to 37th Ward Ald. in November 2024, she owed City Hall thousands of dollars on her water bill. Emma Mitts, one of several city council members, is pressuring the mayor to collect money from debtors before raising taxes.
Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) says she didn’t know one of her assistants owed the city a water bill of more than $28,000.
Mitts said he did not know Lockhart owed the city money until asked about it by a Sun-Times reporter.
“I had no idea about it until I saw your email. I asked him about it and he said he was on a payment plan,” Mitts said, adding, “He has nothing to do with the city’s hiring process.”
Lockhart is also the executive director of the Healing Temple Church of God in Christ and owner of Queen Liz Gospel Expressions and Café in Oak Park.
When asked about his outstanding water bill, Lockhart said, “Why does the Sun-Times care if city employees owe money? I don’t owe the city money. I’m on a payment plan.”
Lockhart owes the city $28,621.64 for delinquent water bills. She is one of 32 city council employees who are owed a total of $82,014 to the city treasury. She is the single biggest debtor.
“We have to make sure we’re doing everything we can to collect that money,” Mitts said. “I always thought everyone had to pay their bills.”
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