Chicago officials would have an additional $87 million to spend on a host of programs designed to repair the city’s tattered social safety net, but the Chicago City Council used those funds to balance the 2025 budget and avert a property tax hike.

Mayor Brandon Johnson slammed S&P’s decision to downgrade the city’s credit rating, saying it was based on inaccurate information.

In his first interview since the CPS board voted unanimously to terminate Martinez, Johnson said the current board members were carrying out his vision for the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

The city’s spending plan relies on tax and fees hikes of $165.5 million, including a 2% increase in the tax levied on software licenses, cloud services and other digital goods as well as a 1.25% increase on subscriptions to streaming and cable television services.

The budget passed 27-23, with just 18 days to spare, averting an unprecedented shutdown of city government.

The spending plan still calls for a host of other taxes and fees to rise by an additional $165.5 million, including increases in the taxes levied on software licenses, cloud services and other digital goods as well as subscriptions to streaming and cable television services.

The mayor’s decision to delay the budget vote is an acknowledgment that the spending plan that would hike property taxes by $68.5 million and increase a host of other taxes and fees by an additional $165.5 million does not have enough votes to pass the Chicago City Council.

Two key Chicago City Council committees voted Tuesday to send Johnson’s $17.3 billion spending plan for 2025 to the full City Council for a final vote. The two-step process is set to start Wednesday, with a final vote scheduled for Friday.

“A budget that would lay off workers and cut services is just, you know, one that should not be tolerated by any Chicagoan,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

The new plan comes after the Chicago City Council rejected Johnson’s first two proposals to raise property taxes in order to avoid draconian cuts to city services and thousands of layoffs.

Joseph “JoJo” Mapp promised to serve as a “bridge” between community organizations working to help those returning to Chicago from jail or prison and the city.

“I get the noise around my administration,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “I’m doing it differently, and I know it feels a certain way, but I’m doing it better. I am. We’ll have a balanced budget that invests in people.”

As City Council members return to City Hall on Monday to wrap up budget hearings after a weeklong Thanksgiving break, there is no clear path to a deal with just 29 days left before the deadline to avoid an unprecedented shutdown of city government.

Mayor Brandon Johnson called on members of the Chicago City Council to do their job and stop throwing tantrums. “It’s time to grow up,” he said. “People in Chicago don’t have time for that.”

Before the stunning rebuke from all 50 alderpeople, including his closest allies, Mayor Brandon Johnson said he remained “committed to collaboration” and would work to craft a budget that reflects the city’s values by investing in people.

Mayor Brandon 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.