More than half of Chicago City Council now supporting alternative plan to Mayor Johnson's proposal
Chicago City Council members are flexing their political muscle in a dispute over the budget and Mayor Brandon Johnson 's proposed corporate head tax .This is now the second year in a row that a majority block of alders has stood up to Mayor Johnson's budget proposal.
Perhaps emboldened by last year's success, they are now flexing their political muscle in another fight over city finances. The Chicago budget battle centers in large part around the corporate head tax, which Mayor Johnson is demanding and at least 26 alders say is a non-starter. "This is not a rubber stamp city council, and they learned that last year because of the power, they had in that debate so they're flexing their muscles and trying to take it even further," ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington said. 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."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. 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.
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