Written by 
DOWNTOWN — More than half of Chicago’s City Council is gearing up to reject Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $300 million tax hike proposal — which would be a major defeat for his proposed 2025 budget.
Twenty-nine alderpeople signed a letter calling for a special City Council meeting Wednesday to force an early vote on Johnson’s proposed property tax hike only a week after Johnson released his suggested budget.
A vote to reject the tax hike would force the mayor’s administration to devise an alternative to balance Johnson’s proposed $17.3 billion budget. The city legally has until Dec. 31 to pass the budget.
“It’s time to reject the property tax increase ASAP, so we can negotiate a real budget that actually has a prayer of passing before the end of 2024,” Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) wrote in a social media post Thursday night announcing the special meeting.
The Mayor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning.
Facing a $1 billion budget gap, Johnson reneged on a campaign promise to not raise property taxes during his first term. Announcing the $300 million property tax hike during his budget address last week, Johnson said he faced a difficult decision between mass layoffs of city employees and the tax hike.
The increase will translate to an estimated 4.8 percent increase “on average” for property owners based on 2023 assessed values, according to the Mayor’s Office.
The proposed property tax hike was met with immediate outcry from the mayor’s frequent critics as well as some of his closest allies.
“With commercial property values falling, residential taxes will increase naturally — and landlords will pass those higher costs on to renters. Now isn’t the time to squeeze $300 million more in property taxes,” Ald. Bill Conway (34th) wrote on X.
Other frequent critics who signed onto the letter include Alds. Brian Hopkins (2nd), Anthony Beale (9th), Raymond Lopez (15th) and Felix Cardona (31st).
The letter also included some of the council’s more progressive alderpeople, including Alds. Matt Martin (47th), Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th) and Jeanette Taylor (20th), who is a member of the council’s Democratic Socialist caucus.
Mayoral ally Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), though not included in the letter, previously told reporters he would be a “no” vote on any property tax increase. Instead, the Pilsen alderperson wants to see the mayor’s administration rethink making an advanced pension payment of $272 million, something Johnson’s finance team has said is necessary. Sigcho-Lopez has also called for an “audit” of Police Department spending and vacancies.
Other possible untapped revenue sources include reinstating the big business head tax, phased out by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2014, and adjusting the city’s jet fuel tax to align with inflation — two issues Johnson also campaigned on, though he has yet to follow through on either.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: