Mayor Johnson hopes to get Chicago city budget deal done by Friday with deadline looming
CHICAGO (CBS) -- City leaders have just over three weeks to get a new budget passed, or else a city shutdown will take effect.
With the deadline fast approaching, sticking points remain unresolved. Mayor Brandon Johnson has taken his $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 job cuts are needed, as are cuts to city department budgets, before any tax hikes would 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. What does the mayor say about that timeline?
CBS News Chicago asked him.
"That is certainly the effort of my administration," said Mayor Johnson.
In addition to the property tax hike, the Johnson administration is proposing tax hikes on cable and streaming services to generate $13 million in new dollars, $11 million from a heightened city garage tax, a new ride-hailing tax to make the city $8.1 million more, and just over $5 million more from a heightened checkout bag tax.
Before the budget can get to the City Council for a full vote, it needs to clear the Finance Committee on Tuesday morning.
"I don't think it will be this week, but we will see," said Ald. Bill Conway (34th).
Conway is vice chair of the Finance Committee.
"The latest proposal really heavily relies on fee increases, and I do believe it needs to be a shared responsibility that also involves more cost-cutting as well," he said.
A group of 15 aldermen want nearly all city budgets to return to their pre-pandemic budgets, with a bump for inflation. They say it would right-size the city budget, and would avoid the unpopular property tax they say voters overwhelmingly don't like.
"We need to be innovative around how we're going to create revenue," said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th). "These same old, tired levers that are pulled—property taxes, fines, fees, TIF surpluses—need to change, and take a look at how to use technology in order to bring efficiencies, which in turn creates revenue."
Alders seems split on whether the budget will get put to rest this Friday.
But there is agreement that this will not get to a city shut down if the deadline of Dec. 31 is not met.
