CHICAGO (CBS) — City leaders have just over three weeks to approve a new budget or a city shutdown will go into effect.
With the deadline fast approaching, bottlenecks remain unresolved. Mayor Brandon Johnson brought his Increase property taxes by $300 million reduced to $68.5 million, but some councilors say that is still too high.
Essentially, the mayor doesn’t want job losses and property tax increases. Many councilors said job losses would be needed, as well as cuts to city department budgets, before tax increases would be greenlit.
Both parties have dug in, with some of the most optimistic thinking the budget could be 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,” Mayor Johnson said.
In addition to the property tax increase, the Johnson administration is proposing tax increases on cable and streaming services to generate $13 million in new dollars, $11 million from an increased city garage tax and a new fare tax to bring the city $8.1 million more to earn. , and just over $5 million more from an increased bag tax at checkout.
Before the budget can go for a full vote in the City Council, it must receive approval from the Budget Committee on Tuesday morning.
“I don’t think it will be this week, but we’ll see,” said Ald. Bill Conway (34th).
Conway is vice chairman of the finance committee.
“The latest proposal relies heavily on rate increases, and I believe it should be a shared responsibility that also brings greater cost savings,” he said.
A group of 15 councilors want almost all city budgets to return to pre-pandemic budgetswith an increase in inflation. They say this would increase the city budget in the right way, and it would avoid the unpopular property taxes that voters say they overwhelmingly don’t like.
“We have to be innovative in terms of how we’re going to generate revenue,” said Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th). “The same old, tired levers being pulled – property taxes, fines, fees, TIF surpluses – need to change and look at how we can use technology to create efficiencies, which in turn create revenue.”
Alders seems divided on whether the budget will come to a rest next Friday.
But there is agreement that this will not lead to a shutdown of the city if the December 31 deadline is not met.
