Video: The WTTW News Spotlight Politics team on the future of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed tax hike and more of the day’s top stories. (Produced by Paul Caine)

Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged Tuesday that the $300 million property tax hike he proposed to fill the city’s massive budget deficit was unlikely to win the approval of the Chicago City Council, but warned he would not accept deep cuts to city services and thousands of layoffs.

The City Council is set to meet at 2 p.m. Thursday to take what amounts to a symbolic vote to reject the property tax hike proposed by Johnson, which would have been the largest increase since 2016 and the second largest in Chicago history.

Johnson used a Tuesday afternoon news conference to cast the City Council’s apparent refusal to hike property taxes by $300 million as evidence of his collaborative approach to governing in Chicago, and not a rebuke of his leadership.

“So as a public-school teacher, sometimes we do things to get people’s attention, and so now that we have the attention of everyone, I’ve said from the very beginning, this is a proposal,” said Johnson, who vowed during the 2023 mayoral campaign not to raise taxes. “For the first time in the history of Chicago, you’re actually seeing that type of collaborative approach, and we will continue to engage with City Council.”

The City Council’s vote to reject the $300 million property tax hike, delayed one day by the funeral of former 7th Ward Ald. William Beavers, is the easy part. The City Council now must come up with a way to fill the budget gap that had been slated to be filled with new property tax revenue.

Property taxes are the city’s largest source of revenue and the most effective way for city officials to raise revenue and ensure expenses do not outstrip costs. Most other revenue generating proposals, like imposing a sales tax on services, not just goods, would require a change in state law.

Despite being pressed by reporters, Johnson declined to say which combination of increased taxes, fines and fees he would support raising to balance the city’s budget and allow the city to make an additional payment of $272 million to the city’s four underfunded pension funds.

But the mayor flatly ruled out a budget that relies on layoffs or furloughs of city employees, and said the city’s spending plan must start repairing the damage caused by decades of mismanagement by his predecessors.

“This budget ultimately has to be committed to investing in people” by setting aside funds to build affordable housing, increase access to mental health care and expand jobs for young Chicagoans, Johnson said.

Johnson also appeared to reject a proposal to use the city’s unspent COVID-19 relief funds to balance the city’s budget and avoid a property tax hike.

It is possible use the remaining federal relief funds to “relieve pressures from the core operating budget deficit,” according to a report from Joseph Ferguson, the head of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group and the city’s former inspector general.

Chicago had yet to spend approximately $300 million in COVID-19 relief funds through the first half of 2024, according to a WTTW News analysis of the most recent report submitted to federal authorities.

The City Council must approve a spending plan for 2025 by Dec. 31.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]