(The Center Square) – With about six weeks left to get a new city budget passed, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is headed back to the drawing board after his proposal to hike property taxes was soundly defeated.
Johnson, who during his mayoral campaign said he would not raise property taxes, recently proposed a $300 million increase as part of his $17.3 billion city budget. That would have meant a 4% increase for homeowners.
The Chicago City Council called a special meeting Thursday to vote on the property tax levy and rejected it by a 50 to 0 tally.
Johnson said the property tax hike was necessary to avoid laying off city workers like police officers and firefighters as Chicago faces a nearly $1 billion budget gap. He has since backed off from the property tax request and concedes the budget is a work in progress.
“Everyone will have an opportunity to engage,” said Johnson. “We’re having conversations in segments.”
Johnson says other options to generate revenue for the city include raising the garbage collecting fee and the amusement tax, and increasing taxes on cigarettes and parking. He has also floated the idea of hiking taxes on liquor by over 30%.
Most of the fireworks during the city council meeting came during the public comment portion. One speaker was escorted from the chambers after yelling at the mayor. Another Chicago resident, Tyler Cruz, said it is obvious why the city is in this fiscal mess.
“We’re relying on casinos, we’re relying on property tax increases instead of addressing the true issue which is we have an addiction to spending,” said Cruz. “We do not have a revenue issue, we have an addiction to spending.”
