Not good enough, Mayor. City Council majority demands Johnson make deeper spending cuts

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to cut in half his proposed $300 million property tax increase — and then pare it down further to $68.1 million — does not go far enough, 28 City Council members warned Thursday.

With time running out to break the budget stalemate, the alderpersons — including chairs of the Black and Progressive Caucuses that Johnson needs to carry his budget over the finish line — sent a letter to the mayor demanding more information and deeper spending cuts.

“Our constituents have made it clear that they are unwilling to shoulder a property tax increase without first ensuring that the city has done its due diligence in considering spending cuts,” the letter stated. “This is a moment where both history and the public demand that we do better and we believe that is absolutely possible, but it requires true collaboration.”

The letter demands that the mayor:

• Freeze the summer youth employment program he is determined to expand.
• Reduce a mayor’s office staff that has ballooned under Johnson and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot to pre-pandemic levels.
• Eliminate unspecified “redundancies between departments” and the mayor’s office.

The letter also demands a raft of information from top mayoral aides by Friday, including a detailed report of spending cuts by department, and an itemized breakdown of the current proposal for revenue, efficiencies and federal pandemic relief.

The Council members also sought a report of “other fees or fines” the Johnson administration has explored for “potential revenue increases” and a detailed list of new and expanded programs, including the number of full-time employees assigned to each.

“There are still things that have gone unanswered. … Council members still aren’t in agreement when it comes to his budget proposal. There is more work to do to pass a budget,” Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), the mayor’s handpicked chair of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights told the Sun-Times about the letter he spearheaded.

Aviation Committee Chair Matt O’Shea (19th), who also signed the letter, argued that the furor over the firing of Johnson’s communications director, Ronnie Reese, and the mayor’s attempts to force the resignation of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez have created a “crisis of confidence.”

“People in City Council, people across neighborhoods in our city don’t trust government. And now, we’re supposed to put our trust in a budget vote when we still don’t have answers?" O'Shea said. "When we still don’t feel we’ve seen enough from the administration in making cuts, finding more efficiencies and redundancies?”

“That original budget proposal was a $300 million property tax increase," O'Shea added. "And now suddenly, just weeks later, it’s under $70 million? If we can get it down more than $230 million, can’t we get it down a little more?"

Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin (28th) refused to sign the letter. He predicted that cooler heads would prevail and that the 28-member coalition would not hold as the clock winds down.

“Additional cuts are unnecessary. The citizens have been very clear that they do not want decreases in services. Additional cuts beyond where we are just don’t make sense,” Ervin said Thursday.

“While people say they want cuts, no one puts up actual items to cut," Ervin added. "Either people need to put specifics cuts on the table that are going to be meaningful other than these little lobs back and forth” or support the property tax increase.

Asked whether Johnson can muster the 26 votes he needs to approve a $17.3 billion budget that includes a $68.1 million property tax increase, Ervin said, “Reality will set in. … We have until the end of the year. My hope and goal is that we finish next weekend and everybody can go home and have a Merry Christmas.”

State law requires the “corporate authority of each taxing district” to release an “estimate of taxes to be levied” from property owners “not less than 20 days prior to adoption of its aggregate levy.”

With that deadline, and the impending Christmas and New Year’s holidays in mind, the Johnson administration has scheduled a series of City Council briefings on the revised revenue and management ordinances in the coming days to set the stage for a series of votes next week.

The Sun-Times reported earlier this week that Johnson was working toward the framework of an agreement to end the budget stalemate. That includes shrinking a property tax increase to $68.1 million while eliminating guaranteed basic income and small business programs bankrolled by federal pandemic relief funds. The plan also includes raising taxes on cloud computing and streaming services. And there’s talk of raising $14.4 million through congestion pricing.