Chicago alders propose budget with deep cuts, no new taxes as possible shutdown looms
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two distinct paths to getting Chicago to a balanced budget next year have formed.
Mayor Brandon Johnson's plan is to raise property taxes, thus avoiding service cuts and layoffs. The plan being pushed by 15 members of City Council calls for no new taxes, and instead relies on deep cuts to city spending—which would include layoffs.
"The mayor wanted this job, and he got it, and he needs to do it," said ALd. Silvana Tabares (23rd). "We are doing our job."
The job that Tabares and 13 of her fellow alders say they are doing is listening to Chicago voters. They put a poll in the field, and they found when voters learned that over $5 billion has been added to the budget since 2020, they want the spending to stop.
The alders' idea is to move almost all city departments back to their budget allocation from 2020, but to add an inflation adjustment. If this happened, the alders claim, the city would city over $500 million this year.
"They want cuts—not new taxes," said Tabares, "and so what we're saying is that we need to right-size the budget to pre-pandemic levels adjusted, and with adjusted inflation.
One big exception is spending on the Police and Fire departments. Their budgets have not kept up with inflation and would go up with the plan.
Is this approach feasible?
"It's really broad-brush," said Joe Ferguson, who leads the non-partisan Civic Federation. "Whether it's feasible is unclear, because you have to get into the weeds from department to department. But I will say as a framing reference, it's a perfectly legitimate thing to do."
The poll commissioned by 14 alders revealed something else—Chicagoans will vote out City Council members who back tax hikes. This goes not only for the $300 million property tax hike plan that Mayor Johnson rolled out and had rejected 50-0 by the City Council, but any tax hikes at all—including Johnson's revised $150 million property tax hike option.
The Mayor's office and the alders who came up with the plan have not spoken much since the alders' plan was revealed. But a city shutdown looms if a budget deal is not stuck by years end.
"The number of times I am asked what happened if we do not pass a budget by December 31st is rising rapidly," Ferguson said. "I think that's on everyone's mind at City Hall, so I think they need to engage next week."
Tabares said a shutdown would be a consequence of Mayor Johnson being stubborn.
"We don't want a city shutdown, but the mayor is making us choose between a property tax increase or a city shutdown," Tabares said. "Those are the options that he is giving us, and that's not what we want."
