Mayor Scraps Property Tax Hike In Budget Plan, With Final Vote Possible Monday

CITY HALL — Mayor Brandon Johnson’s latest budget proposal no longer includes a property tax hike, according to multiple news reports.

Johnson’s initial budget plan introduced at the end of October relied on a $300 million property tax hike, a proposal that was widely opposed and later voted down unanimously by City Council. Johnson dropped that number to $150 million before lowering it further to $68.5 million.

The mayor and his budget team have argued raising property taxes is necessary to avoid layoffs at the police and fire departments as well as other critical services — despite Johnson pledging on the campaign trail he would not do so during his first term.

After weeks of contentious debate and concerns voiced by alderpeople across the political spectrum, Johnson’s budget package, including the $68.5 million tax increase, narrowly passed through the necessary City Council committees on Tuesday. A possible final vote was scheduled for Friday.

But by Friday morning, it was clear the mayor did not yet have the votes to pass his spending plan. The meeting was recessed to 1 p.m. Monday, when a vote on the latest proposal could take place — but only if Johnson’s administration has won over a majority of alderpeople.

“The reality is we’re very close, but we’re still not there yet. That’s why we recessed for today, ready to begin again on Monday,” Johnson said during a press conference Friday afternoon. “If you’re asking me if [the vote is] going to be close, yes, it’s going to be close.”

To make up the $68.5 million in the budget that would have been paid for by the property tax hike, Johnson’s latest proposal relies on delaying payments on $40 million in debt tied to the vacant former Michael Reese hospital site, saving $2.8 million by cutting middle management jobs across city departments and numerous other efficiences, according to the Sun-Times.

That includes cutting 10 positions in the Mayor’s Office to save $1 million, according to WTTW.

It’s not clear if scrapping the property tax hike and making those proposed cuts will convince enough alderpeople to back the mayor’s spending plan, which must be approved by Dec. 31 to avoid a potential government shutdown.

They are unlikely to satisfy a group of 15 of the Council’s more conservative alderpeople, most of whom held a press conference Friday afternoon calling for more cuts and efficiencies to be included in the budget.

“What we’re here to do today is to implore the administration: Take to heart what the Chicago voters have told them, through us, their elected representatives, that this budget needs to be responsibly balanced with a blend of both cuts and revenue,” Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said during the press conference.

That same group released a letter on Sunday calling for an additional $823 million in spending reductions to the budget on top of Johnson’s latest proposal. They also want to see funding added to resume the use of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology, which was phased out earlier this year.

The budget proposal still includes numerous fee and tax increases proposed earlier this month that will impact the daily lives of Chicagoans.

That includes a three-cent increase in the checkout bag tax from 7 cents to 10 cents, as well as increases in the price of residential parking permits and expansion of congestion fees for rideshare trips Downtown.

A tax on streaming services would also go up from 9 to 10.25 percent under the mayor’s latest plan. The city’s personal property lease tax, which impacts car and equipment rentals as well as cloud computing services, would increase from 9 to 11 percent. That hike would yield $128 million, according to the Tribune.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: