Johnson's administration outlined the deficit in its latest budget update, prompting a new round of fingerpointing over stalled revenue plans and the potential impact on jobs and a planned $260 million advance pension payment.
At a ribbon cutting event in Bronzeville, Johnson criticized aldermen who rejected his proposed corporate head tax during last year's budget negotiations.
"We're talking about workers, right? But that's what we talked about during the budget season," Johnson said. "The city council obviously did not place the interests of workers above the interests of these big conglomerate corporations."
Johnson said the council's alternative revenue ideas have not produced income, contributing to the shortfall. Finance Committee Chairwoman Pat Dowell disputed that, saying the council's proposals were already incorporated into the budget and that the administration has been slow to act.
"We've come up with solutions, and they're baked into the budget. We need the administration to implement the budget," Dowell said. "As you heard yesterday, a lot of the things that we wanted to pursue, they've taken their sweet time to do that."
The administration has suggested that if layoffs become necessary, police may have to be included to achieve significant savings. John Catanzara Jr., president of the Fraternal Order of Police, warned that such cuts would be dangerous.
"We're in the middle of the most violent part of the year, historically speaking," Catanzara said. "There's a lot of unknowns within the police department in the city at the moment, and taking sworn police officers off the street, couldn't be a dumber idea for anybody to even utter those words out loud."
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Dowell said layoffs are not the only option and pointed to potential efficiencies, including an employee buyout program.
"I threw out an idea yesterday about an employee buyout, which they haven't even evaluated. So, to me, this is scare tactics," she said.
Johnson also reiterated his push for new taxes targeting wealthy residents and large corporations.
"That strategy failed," he said of the council's alternative revenue plan. "Now city council has to come back to the table and come up with something that's going to ensure that our budget is not just structurally sound, but of course we challenge those with means to put more skin in the game."
With an election year ahead and both sides emphasizing different revenue priorities, reaching a compromise could prove difficult.