CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) — A group of Chicago aldermen have formally introduced an alternative to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget plan for next year.<\/p>\n
But the mayor told reporters after Wednesday’s City Council meeting that it’s not one he can support.<\/p>\n
Twenty-seven aldermen are listed as co-sponsors on a series of amendments to the mayor’s 2026 spending plan, largely designed to replace his proposed $82 million head tax on Chicago’s biggest employers.<\/p>\n
That’s a majority of City Council, but it’s not enough to override a potential mayoral veto.<\/p>\n
The plan calls for a combination of increased fines and fees, including an increase in the city’s garbage collection fee, which has been unchanged since it was enacted more than a decade ago, from $9.50 a month to $15.<\/p>\n
Bridgeport alderwoman Nicole Lee said the amendments follow the group’s core principles: “No borrowing for operating expenses. No shorting our pension obligations. No job-killing head tax.”<\/p>\n
And before City Council adjourned around noon Wednesday, it approved a calendar agreeing to meet five times in full session between December 15 and 23, to give leaders enough time to approve a budget and avoid a shutdown.<\/p>\n
“Thirty individuals voted for the amended schedule,” said Ald. Lee (11th Ward). “We’re making sure that we’re gonna have a budget that’s passed by the end of the year.”<\/p>\n
Another leader of the alternate budget effort, Roscoe Village alderman Scott Waguespack, told reporters he’s confident their plan has the needed support<\/p>\n
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, and I feel that we have the votes that we needed today to move our revenue item forward, as well as the votes for the five upcoming dates,” said Waguespack (32nd Ward).<\/p>\n
Mayor Johnson said he appreciates the engagement, but that his opinion about a potential increase in garbage collection fees has not changed.<\/p>\n
“No, I cannot support a budget that nearly doubles the garbage fee for working people,” the mayor told reporters after the meeting. “I don’t support a budget that places such an incredible burden on working people. “<\/p>\n
During the council meeting, which ran less than two hours, City Council also gave final approval to a $15.3 million payment settling a lawsuit filed by Robert Smith, Jr., who says Chicago police beat and tortured him into signing a false confession in the 1987 murders of his wife’s mother and grandmother.<\/p>\n
Allies of Mayor Johnson also maneuvered to delay two other proposals.<\/p>\n
A vote on a measure that would limit the sale of Delta-8 and other products made with what’s known as “intoxicating hemp” has been put off until Council’s next meeting.<\/p>\n
And a proposal from Downtown Alderman Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) giving police the authority to call a “snap curfew” in areas where large teen gathering are expected has been sent to the City Council’s Rules Committee until aldermen can agree on which committee should hear it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) — A group of Chicago aldermen have formally introduced an alternative to Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":438925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-438924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115698118465127899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}