Overview
- Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration issued a detailed public rebuttal dismissing the City Council majority’s alternative as legally and financially unsound.
- Johnson insisted the $21-per-employee head tax stay in the 2026 budget, saying it would raise about $100 million for violence-prevention efforts and citing recent declines in homicides and shootings.
- The memo argued nearly doubling the garbage collection fee would disproportionately burden households as property tax bills rise, releasing a ward-by-ward cost analysis.
- Officials warned that trimming $100 million from the planned $1 billion TIF surplus would disrupt partners such as Chicago Public Schools and Cook County that have already budgeted those funds.
- The administration sent the rebuttal to 23 of the 26 aldermanic signers and questioned key revenue claims, calling an off-premise liquor tax distinction likely unlawful, rejecting debt-sale windfalls, and disputing rideshare and augmented-reality licensing estimates.