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Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson faces a challenging situation as his proposed budget appears to be on shaky ground. Over half of the Chicago City Council has thrown its support behind a rival budget proposal.
This alternative plan seeks to remove the contentious head tax, a measure that Mayor Johnson has been a staunch advocate for.
The 26 council members backing this new budget approach are calling for a fresh dialogue with the mayor’s finance team, emphasizing the urgency as time is running out.
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For the second consecutive year, a significant faction of the council is challenging Mayor Johnson’s financial blueprint. Buoyed by their previous successes, these council members are once again asserting their influence in the ongoing city budget discussions.
The crux of this budgetary clash lies in the corporate head tax, which Mayor Johnson insists upon, while at least 26 council members view it as a deal-breaker.
“This is not a rubber stamp city council,” noted ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington. “They demonstrated their power last year in the debate, and they’re now pushing their influence further.”
Last year, the council voted 50-to-nothing against the mayor’s proposed property tax hike. He tried and failed on two compromise versions and then dropped it all together.
This year, council members have proposed an alternative budget that would hike garbage fees and liquor taxes and impose a delivery tax. Political observers say this is an unprecedented pushback that hasn’t happened since the infamous council wars under Mayor Harold Washington.
READ MORE | Mayor’s team rejects alderman’s alternatives to corporate head tax in proposed Chicago budget
Dick Simpson is a former alderman and political science professor.
“Mayor Washington would introduce a proposal, they would vote it down. Alderman Burke would introduce a counter proposal. The mayor would veto it, and it would go down to December 31 before they could actually pass the budget,” Simpson said.
Mayor Johnson has framed this budget as billionaires and big corporations against working class residents. His allies at the Chicago Teachers Union rallying to his defense in the Gold Coast on Wednesday.
“We need to send a loud message to our representatives that they need to tax the ultra wealthy corporations, the folks that have it,” CTU Political Director Hilario Dominguez said.
With bells jingling and lights twinkling, Chicago Teachers Union members dressed in holiday garb blocked Michigan Avenue Wednesday evening and sang carols to the wealthy.
The Mag Mile rally was held outside the offices of a hedge fund and private equity firm, and it ended with a handful of Santa look-a-likes in handcuffs after refusing to leave the street.
This may not be an election year, but Mayor Johnson may be looking ahead to 2027, trying to appease his base with this budget.
“It’s absolutely an election year budget,” Washington said. “By next year, we will already be deep into the mayoral campaign, and so he will already need to have a record to run on and a case to make.”
“So the city council and the mayor are going to have to face off,” Simpson said. “They’re going to discover that neither of them have the votes for what their preferred is, and they’re going to have to make compromises.”
The City Council is scheduled to meet next week, but with the revenue situation still very much in flux, a budget vote is more likely to come much later this month.
By law, a balanced budget has to be passed by the end of the year.
