Mayor Brandon Johnson's revised budget plan, $68.5 million property tax hike pass first test
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Brandon Johnson's revised 2025 budget plan narrowly cleared its first hurdle Tuesday morning, as two key committees backed the mayor's $17.3 billion spending plan, and a $234 million package of increased taxes, fines and fees, including a $68.5 million property tax hike to fund it.
The mayor's latest budget plan avoids any cuts to city services or layoffs of city employees.
The City Council Finance voted 14-12 to approve the laundry list of increased taxes, fines and fees on Tuesday as the mayor seeks to get a final budget deal in place by the end of the week. The City Council Budget Committee later voted 17-16 to pass a handful of pieces of legislation to implement the mayor's proposed spending plan.
The mayor needs 26 votes for his budget plan to pass the full council. The earliest the full City Council could vote on a budget plan is Friday.
The mayor's budget team has spent more than three weeks revising his budget plan for 2025 after the City Council unanimously rejected his original plan for a $300 million property tax hike last month.
Johnson has taken his original $300 million property tax hike pitch down to $68.5 million—but some aldermen say this is still too high.
Essentially, the mayor wants no job cuts and a property tax hike. Many alderpeople said deeper cuts are needed to city department budgets before any tax hikes should get the green light.
Both sides have dug in, with some of the most optimistic thinking the budget could get put to bed by Friday.
"That is certainly the effort of my administration," Johnson said on Monday.
Last week, the mayor's office unveiled a new budget package that includes:
- A $68.5 million property tax increase.
- A $128.1 million from increase on the city's tax on cloud computing services.
- A $12.9 million tax increase on streaming and cable TV services.
- A $11.3 million increase in the tax on parking garages and valet parking services.
- An $8.1 million increase in the congestion surcharge on ride-hailing trips that start or end downtown.
- A $5.2 million increase on the tax on checkout bags from 7 cents to 10 cents per bag.
- $11.4 million in additional revenue from new speed cameras.
- $3.1 million in cuts from the Department of Fleet and Facilities Management.
- $13.1 million in cuts from the city's general finance fund by reducing the amount going to pay down existing debt.
- $74 million in cuts from federal COVID-19 relief funds the mayor had planned to use to finance a guaranteed basic income program and small business assistance programs.
The mayor's critics argued the mayor's office should have made more spending cuts before turning to higher taxes, fines, and fees to balance the budget.
"We have a spending problem in the city of Chicago. We don't have a revenue problem. We're spending far too much money," Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said. "The people deserve much better, and I really do hope my colleagues think twice before they vote for this garbage."
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who like Reilly were among 15 alders who had demanded cutting the budgets for nearly every city department to pre-pandemic levels, said the mayor's $17.3 billion budget plan for 2025 is still bloated.
They have said reducing departmental budgets to 2020 levels, with only a slight increase to account for inflation, would right-size the city budget, and would avoid the unpopular property tax they say voters overwhelmingly don't like.
"The budget is still bloated, and we're going to go ahead and accept this? This is not what the people of the city of Chicago are asking for. The people of the city of Chicago are asking for cuts and efficiencies," Beale said.
Lopez said talks the mayor's office has had with alders since the City Council rejected his $300 million property tax hike have amounted to nothing more than giving his allies cover to vote for a different array of tax increases without sincerely cutting spending.
"There's many ways that we could have continued to have this conversation across the board, but a manufactured crisis was given to us to try to force our hand, and threaten us with being here through the holidays to get the job done," he said.
Reilly said the fact the Johnson administration has been able to reduce his proposed property tax hike from $300 million to $68.5 million without significant spending cuts shows the tax hike isn't needed.
"It started at $300 million. We must have a $300 million property tax, or the city's going to go down in flames. Oh, just kidding. Five days later, no we really need a $150 million property tax. Oh, wait a second. Just kidding. We only need a $68.5 million property tax. What's the answer?" he said.
The mayor's budget director, Annette Guzman, defended the administration's budget plan, saying they have cut departmental budgets "across the board."
"We've cut over 700 positions in this budget. We have cut departmental budgets by at least 3 percent. Many departments were cut by more," she said.
Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), Johnson's vice mayor, said the revised budget plan is a reflection of input from multiple City Council members.
"This is the best deal that we have so far," he said. "We've been looking at everyone's ideas. Everybody's been giving packages. Everyone has been given opportunities to give input. Those who have given input, the administration has taken their input and saw what they could add it to the process."
It's unclear if Johnson has the votes to get his budget plan approved by the full council, and critics said the mayor has begun backroom promises to shore up support from those with cold feet.
"The administration is promising people the sun and the moon to buy their votes, and at the end of the day, they can't. Theres not enough money to fulfill the promises that they're putting forward," Beale said.
Critics of the Johnson plan demanded a list of promises being made to lock down council support.
"This budget process has been a sham," Reilly said.
Burnett said he believes the mayor and his allies are close to having the 26 votes needed to pass a budget this week.
"I wouldn't say they have it. Nothing is guaranteed. I would say they're going to be working on it until tomorrow or Friday, all the way till Friday. Things change from time to time, but I think we're getting very close," he said. "A lot of people who gave us input – and we put the input in – are now supporting this and asking other people to support it."
Burnett accused the mayor's critics of showboating and trying to "discredit whatever we're trying to do, but not giving us a better option in order to do things."
"I anticipate that it's going to be some more shenanigans going on to agitate, get some publicity, all of those things," he said.
Lopez and 14 colleagues commissioned a poll that shows Chicagoans overwhelmingly want deep cuts across nearly all departments – except the Chicago Police Department – to reduce spending before any property tax enters the picture.
"There is enough bloat fat in this budget to balance it without $300 million, without $150 million, without $68 million. There's enough," Beale said.
Could the holdout last through the holidays, or worse trigger a city government shutdown if the City Council cannot approve a balanced budget by the Dec. 31 deadline? It's a concern both sides are mulling.
"I don't think no one wants to continue to do those things all up until through the holiday and past the holiday. I don't want to spend my Christmas taking my Christmas away from my grandkids, and be talking to some aldermen on Christmas Day," Burnett said.
The City Council has until Dec. 31 to approve a budget plan for 2025 and avoid an unprecedented shutdown of city government. While alders earlier this week appeared split on whether a budget deal will be approved by the end of this week, as the mayor hopes, they seemed to agree the city will not get to the point of missing the Dec. 31 deadline and facing a shutdown.
