In a move to pre-empt what many see as an unsavory tax burden for Chicagoans, 29 members of the Chicago City Council have banded together to convene a special meeting aimed at squashing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed $300 million property tax increase, as
reported by the Sun-Times
. Scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m., the council members are uniting to force the mayor back to the bargaining table in hopes of identifying alternative revenue sources and potential budget cuts rather than placing the fiscal onus on property owners.
The measure proposed by Johnson, designed to plug a significant budget deficit, has been met with fierce resistance from council members who accuse the mayor of delaying his budget address by two weeks in an attempt to pressure the council into a corner so that without sufficient time for a thoughtful review, they would have no choice but to pass the property tax hike or risk a government shutdown—a tactic comparable to a basketball team stalling the game in the final minutes to maintain a lead, according to Ald. Anthony Beale as
WGNTV.com
informs.
The call for the special meeting implies that at least 26 council members must be present to reach a quorum and 34 votes are required to suspend the council rules for an immediate vote on the issue, which so far hasn’t been approved by the Committee on Budget and Government Operations, the lack of progress within the committee stages signals the disapproval that looms over the mayor’s proposition even as the year-end deadline to approve the city’s budget draws near.
During the opening day of Council hearings on the mayor’s proposed $17.3 billion budget, alternatives such as tapping into federal stimulus funds, cutting back middle management layers, and reconsidering a $275 million pension advance were discussed, leaving room to challenge the mayor’s allies in labor to accept some pay cuts—they were all ideas floated for avoiding what Ald. Ray Lopez described in
comments to the Sun-Times
, as the mayor’s attempt to force the hand of the City Council under the threat of being blamed for a potential government shutdown, an event Lopez asserts has never happened before but looms over this contentious budget debate like an unwanted shadow.
Johnson’s office has been notably silent in the wake of the demand for a special meeting, while senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee has previously indicated the mayor’s willingness to negotiate, telling
the Sun-Times
, “What the mayor said is, ‘The values are not negotiable. The details are.’ Been saying that from Day One. We’ve encouraged aldermen to bring ideas to the forefront,” signaling an openness to discuss alternates to the property tax increase without straying from the administration’s core fiscal values, the council, however, seems set to demand more than just words at Wednesday’s meeting as they seek tangible shifts in policy to protect their constituents from further financial strain.
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