City Council members propose budget cuts in a letter to Chicago's mayor to avoid higher property taxes in the city

CHICAGO (WLS) — Fifteen of the most conservative council members say the city of Chicago's budget has expanded dramatically since the pandemic and there needs to be a fiscal reset.

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“Our starting point is, let's look at 2020, the budget adjusts that for inflation, and that should be the starting point in the mayor's spending plan,” said 42nd Alderman Brendan Reilly.

15 council members sent a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson saying they could cut spending by $568 million and help avoid a property tax increase.

“We have established standards to provide a framework for a responsible and reasonable budget. The ball is in the mayor's court,” said 23rd Ward Alderman Silvana Tabares.

However, Johnson's allies said the proposed budget adjustments would lead to service cuts and layoffs.

“I don't know how you cut $500 million and some odd millions out of $5 billion, without layoffs,” Budget Committee Chairman Jason Ervin said.

Irvine said the council would not resort to cuts because residents told them they wanted to maintain service levels.

The same group of aldermen advocating the cuts also conducted a poll showing the mayor's approval rating at 15%.

81% prefer cuts to increased property taxes.

The surveys also found that 81% of respondents favored some reductions in services in exchange for a $150 million increase in property taxes.

“Well, the fact that they're doing this poll and the fact that they're exploring other potential mayoral candidates shows that they're more aggressive,” ABC7 political analyst Laura Washington said. “They see the opportunity to take the initiative and take power away from the mayor, and this budget could be the turning point for that.”

“I think the mayor needs to step back from his position that city jobs are entitlements and that we can't look at making any cuts,” Reilly said. “Every private company does this when they have a bad revenue year. Every family does this when they face job insecurity, or when their rent goes up.”

When the time comes to get serious, it seems unlikely that deep cuts will have enough support to be implemented. But it is clear that this council was not content with flexing its political muscles.