Overview
- Twenty-six aldermen submitted an alternative to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget that rejects a $21-per-employee head tax and relies on higher user fees and efficiencies.
- In the proposal, the monthly garbage fee would rise from $9.50 to $18 with senior exemptions, a 3% tax would apply to off‑premise liquor sales, and larger rideshare congestion zones would be restored.
- The plan restores the full $260 million advance pension payment and covers $166 million in firefighter back pay from the corporate fund rather than by issuing bonds.
- Johnson defended the head tax as sparing residents and most businesses, attacked business‑backed ads criticizing it, and warned he would veto budgets that raise property taxes or garbage fees, which would require 34 votes to override.
- The Finance Committee has already rejected the mayor’s revenue package, the council faces a Dec. 31 deadline, ratings pressure persists after S&P cut the outlook to negative, and analysts questioned the counterplan’s $150 million ‘improved debt collections’ assumption as the mayor argues the alternatives still fall about $700 million short.