Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief financial officer resigned Friday after just three months on the job, saying she was unable to fulfill her obligation to provide “complete and accurate” disclosures about the city’s finances.
Ashlee Gabrysch leaves her post as Johnson’s election-year budget stalls due to continued impasse with aldermen. In her resignation letter obtained by the Tribune, Gabrysch said she was leaving the city because of concerns about how the city presented financial information.
“Investors, rating agencies, the City Council and taxpayers rely on the CFO’s statements regarding the City’s finances, and they must be complete and accurate,” Gabrysch, who was most recently a senior director at Fitch Ratings, wrote to Johnson. “I am unable to fulfill these obligations under the conditions in which I have been asked to serve.”
In a statement, Johnson’s press secretary, Allison Novelo, said the mayor accepted Gabrysch’s resignation and pointed the finger at her with allegations of ethics violations.
“The City of Chicago is facing a serious budget crisis after decades of mismanagement. It is concerning that, during her short tenure, Ashlee was largely absent during critical periods of the city’s budget preparation process,” Novelo said. “Additionally, his decision to direct the city treasurer to issue a $75 million payment without proper legal authorization or following required processes raises serious concerns.”
“Given the seriousness of these concerns, we will refer the matter to the city’s Office of Inspector General for an independent review,” Novelo added.
On November 2, the council voted 44-6 in favor of a one-time $75 million allocation from parking meters for additional payment to Chicago’s public pensions. That’s a veto-proof majority, but Gabrysch apparently didn’t follow procedure by waiting for the mayor to sign or veto the law, or by waiting until the next council meeting for it to automatically go into effect, according to an email from the corporation’s acting attorney, Renee Hatcher, obtained by the Tribune.
“Your letter dated November 6, 2026 to the City Treasurer, ordering the transfer of parking meter payments to pension funds, was premature,” Hatcher wrote to Gabrysch, also CC-ingJohnson’s chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas. “In the future, please coordinate with the Department of Law to ensure we follow the required procedures.”
The mayor now enters the second month of his fourth budget cycle without a permanent finance director. Its first, Jill Jaworski, resigned earlier this year. Interim CFO Steven Mahr then left the company in July. The city also does not yet have a permanent budget director. Jonathan Ernst has served as interim director since Annette Guzman resigned in August to care for an ailing family member.
In a statement Friday to the Tribune, Gabrysch said the CFO’s “statements about the city’s finances are not chatter. … The CFO must act scrupulously to ensure they are always accurate and complete.”
“Throughout my career, I have remained committed to the highest standards of financial integrity and transparency, and during my short time as CFO, I have faithfully fulfilled this duty,” Gabrysch said. “It has, however, become apparent that continuing to serve in this capacity would compromise my integrity and professional obligations. I have therefore concluded that I must withdraw from my duties and hereby tender my resignation.”
Johnson Finance Committee Chairman Ald. Pat Dowell, who has since become leader of the opposition on the city council against his budget, said Friday that there should be an independent financial audit of the city by an outside firm in response to Gabrysch’s allegations in his resignation letter.
“I’m calling for an audit of the city’s finances at this point,” said Dowell, 3rd. “I’m just shocked. … It’s a sad day. Ashlee was a really good CFO.”
Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, also called for “an immediate and robust investigation.”
Dowell, who described Gabrysch as a “tremendous professional,” added that current leadership turnover “has the potential to impact our rating with the credit agencies because they may sense there is instability.”
The financial director is generally responsible for managing the city’s debt, long-term financial planning and reporting, and relationships with rating agencies. Gabrysch reportedly played a leading role in Johnson’s proposed $480 million debt issuance to cover various settlements through 2028, including $260 million to victims of former Chicago detective Reynaldo Guevara.
Key to Gabrysch’s role was ensuring the city wasn’t further hit by the rating agencies, three of which downgraded their ratings after last year’s budget. The agencies, which assess the city’s creditworthiness and influence borrowing costs, have highlighted the city’s stubborn budget deficits due to rising pensions, debt and payroll costs; fights between mayor and council; and the continued reliance on ad hoc measures to fill deficits is a major concern.
Justin Marlowe, director of the University of Chicago Center for Municipal Finance and a keen observer of the city’s finances and credit performance, said, “When the person responsible for the city’s financial credibility loses confidence in the process, everyone should take note.” »
Gabrysch took issue with the administration’s public reporting on the size of the deficit, an issue on which she publicly broke with Johnson during the first day of budget hearings.
Johnson’s budget team estimated next year’s budget gap at $882 million when it rolled out deficit forecasts in September. When Johnson formally presented his budget last month, that figure had fallen to $662 million — an “adjusted” figure that the administration largely attributed to plans to borrow to fund police settlements.
The CFO repeatedly raised concerns about reporting the adjusted budget gap figure, according to a source close to Gabrysch, who said she reported the gap to Johnson’s legal department and senior management in internal memos.
With that figure subtracted from the city’s deficit, Johnson said 76 percent of his proposals to close the gaps were structural. Gabrysch disputed that figure during the first day of the state budget hearing, saying those settlement costs were part of the deficit and that borrowing to cover it should be seen as a one-time measure to close the deficit. With those two things in mind, she said structural solutions made up 56 percent of the mayor’s proposal.
“The 76% figure comes from removing regulations and judgments from the denominator,” she said at the time. “I’m sticking to the projected budget of $882 (million)…that’s my denominator.”
Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, said he was “not surprised the mayor might be a little disingenuous here, that seems to be his normal course of action.”
Gabrysch didn’t respond to Quinn’s joke but moments later she took a big sip from her drink.
Johnson then denied any attempt by his administration to hide the bullet. “Look, we’ve obviously been incredibly transparent,” Johnson said when asked about the discrepancy.
This wasn’t the first time the mayor and his CFO had publicly disagreed. Last year, Jaworski told a Bloomberg audience before Johnson’s budget presentation that a property tax increase was “likely.”
Although property taxes are among the most stable and predictable revenues the city can generate on its own, they have become a political third road. Johnson rejected the idea days later.
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