Politics
City Council Votes Unanimously to Reject Mayor’s $300M Property Tax Hike Proposal
Without debate, the Chicago City Council voted unanimously Thursday to reject the $300 million property tax hike proposed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, sending negotiations over the city’s spending plan for 2025 back to square one.
Before the stunning rebuke from all 50 alderpeople, including his closest allies, Johnson said he remained “committed to collaboration” and would work to craft a budget that reflects the city’s values by investing in people.
The vote sends negotiations over the city’s proposed $17.3 billion spending plan for 2025 back to square one, with just 47 days until the deadline for city officials to adopt a budget.
Because the City Council is nearly certain to raise property taxes by at least $45 million to allow it levy taxes on newly constructed homes and commercial properties, it is 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.
But the City Council may have no choice but to raise property taxes on the owners of existing homes and businesses, since 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.
Despite being pressed by reporters in recent days, Johnson has declined to say which combination of increased taxes, fines and fees he would support raising to balance the city’s budget and allow Chicago to make an additional payment of $272 million to the city’s four underfunded pension funds.
Johnson vowed during the 2023 mayoral campaign not to raise property taxes.
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.
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.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
