In May 2013, O'Connor suggested that the Catholic Church and other religious institutions and not for profit organizations should pay property taxes and be billed for water provided by the City of Chicago. O'Connor's comments were in support of a plan by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to charge such organizations for water which had traditionally been provided without charge to not for profit organizations. “The silliest things can be said and people latch onto it.” O’Connor said. “For Chrissake, we sell everybody water! And now all of a sudden because we’re a church, we’re not supposed to sell them water? At some point, i think what’s gonna happen is someone’s gonna say how about looking at property taxes? We’ll give ya free water. How about paying for the property you own.” O'Connor further suggested that the Catholic Church should not criticize the plan to bill it for water use, but ought to address its clerical abuse scandals.