Overview
- Top aides are gauging council votes for a revised head tax of $33 per worker on companies with 500 or more employees, which the mayor’s office says could raise roughly $80–82 million.
- A bloc of 26 aldermen is preparing a counterbudget that rejects any head tax and instead seeks nearly doubling the garbage fee, higher retail liquor charges, an expanded downtown rideshare surcharge and efficiencies.
- Johnson challenged the group to bring its plan to a vote and restated he would veto any budget that raises property taxes or the garbage fee.
- A weekend negotiating session ended without progress, leaving the city up against a Dec. 30 property tax levy deadline and a Dec. 31 budget deadline that officials warn could trigger an unprecedented shutdown if unmet.
- Youth organizations pressed to keep the head tax to avoid thousands of summer job cuts, while opponents including Gov. J.B. Pritzker and business groups call it a job killer, and some aldermen warn the mayor’s borrowing and pension shifts could harm credit.