New proposals for cuts, taxes on table with Chicago city budget deadline looming
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The city's end-of-year budget deadline keeps on inching closer—with no deal in sight.
Now, alongside increased property taxes, CBS News Chicago has learned the Johnson administration has proposed a list of new ideas of revenue—which could make it cost more to head downtown, or to go to the grocery store.
The Johnson administration started at $300 million for a proposed property tax hike—which the City Council voted down unanimously. The administration later revised the proposal down to $150 million, and has now cut it to $68 million.
But those are not all the changes on the table—not even close.
"We have found millions of dollars of efficiencies across the board," Mayor Johnson said.
Sources said $3 million in efficiencies, or cuts, have been found to make up for some of the original $300 billion property tax increase—along with an additional sum of about $40 million lost by the city to changes in Springfield.
In total, Mayor Johnson has to make up for a shortfall of about $340 million—and he has committed to doing so without layoffs.
"Laying off Chicagoans is not a pathway to solvency. Cuts to services like law enforcement or tree trimming—these are services that the people of Chicago rely upon," said the mayor. "So we have found levels of efficiencies. We have found more efficiencies in this next iteration that I will propose."
A source close to the budget negotiations tells CBS News Chicago that the city has proposed $68 million in property taxes, an increase in the city's bag tax from 7 cents to 10 cents, and adding a surge tax to rideshares taken in the city's Central Business District seven days a week instead of five—alongside a parking tax.
Also already reported to be on the table are a tax on streaming services, a tax on digital cloud storage, and a change to the city's permit amnesty system where some will be forced to pay back permits—possibly at a reduced rate or without fees.
"We're very close. The numbers are looking good," said Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th). "I think we're going to end up ending this thing on the 13th."
The mayor's supporters are confident that they can get the budget done before Christmas. Meanwhile in a letter issued Thursday, 28 alders urged the mayor to consider cuts to his own office.
The alders asked for a reduction to the Mayor's office staff to 2020 levels.
The alders who signed the letter were Desmond Yancy (5th), Nicole Lee (11th), Julia Ramirez (12th), Jeylu Gutierrez (14th), Ray Lopez (15th), Stephanie Coleman (16th), David Moore (17th), Derrick Curtis (18th), Matt O'Shea (19th), Jeanette Taylor (20th), Ronnie Mosley (21st), Monique Scott (24th), Ruth Cruz (30th), Felix Cardona (31st), Scott Waguespack (32nd), Bill Conway (34th), Gilbert Villegas (36th), Emma Mitts (37th), Nicholas Sposato (38th), Andre Vasquez (40th), Anthony Napolitano (41st), Timothy Knudsen (42nd), Bennett Lawson (44th), James Gardiner (45th), Matt Martin (47th), Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th), and Maria Hadden (49th).
"If it don't happen at the end of the year, we will put a bigger burden on the citizens of the city of Chicago, because it will cost us more money, because we won't have a budget," Burnett said.
The mayor and the City Council have until Dec. 31 to get a budget passed.
"The administration has come a long way from $300 million in tax increases to $60 million, or $68 million. I think that's a big deal," Burnett said, "and they compromised on some other things that people are concerned about."
But many alders are skeptical that a budget will really be agreed upon by next Friday, Dec. 13, as Burnett indicated.
In a statement on Friday, Ald. Lopez (15th) said he will not support Johnson's 2025 budget revenue:
"I do not believe this administration has taken seriously our call for reduced spending. I do not feel this administration has put in the work to reduce the non-essential patronage workforce, as is evident by the fact that our supervisor-employee ratio remains too high in many departments."
