Mayor Johnson rejects alternative budget presented by majority of City Council members

ByCraig Wall WLS logo

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Mayor rejects alternative budget presented by majority of City Council

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is rejecting the ideas in an alternative budget that a majority of Chicago City Council members presented his administration earlier this week.

This is setting the stage for a budget stalemate that could drag on for several more weeks. As the mayor is digging in his heels, council members seem to be growing frustrated.

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There certainly is a level of frustration as alders try to respond to concerns of their constituents but find themselves at odds with the mayor, who claims he is doing what Chicagoans want in his budget proposal.

"The budget that I have put forward, it puts forth the agenda of working people," Johnson said.

Mayor Johnson celebrated the 119th anniversary of the Postal Workers Union in Chicago on Thursday as they fight against talk of privatization.

The mayor himself is fighting off efforts by a group of 26 alders to modify his budget proposal, including eliminating the mayor's head tax on companies with more than 100 employees which is expected to raise $100 million for youth jobs and violence prevention programs. It is an idea the mayor adamantly supports as part of a budget focused on taxing the rich.

"I think it's pretty straightforward here that we can either balance this budget off the backs of working people or challenge 3% of the largest corporations in the city of Chicago to put more skin in the game," Johnson said.

"The Small Business Administration has identified small businesses at 500 and under," 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas said. "Yet this mayor's administration has decided that 100-person company is a large corporation. So in essence, he's targeting the micro, small businesses that are in our communities."

The Johnson administration sent a letter to alders, rejecting one by one all their alternative budget proposals for various reasons.

"So for them to ignore the City Council and say, 'No, we're just going to forge ahead,' is wrong headed, and it's not good governing," 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack said.

"He's labeled himself the collaborator in chief in the past, and I think that he's failing on that right now," Ald. Villegas said.

"We have a great opportunity right now to come together for Chicago," said 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee, Budget Committee Vice-Chair. "I'm going to repeat that for the city of Chicago and for the future of this city. We need to come back to the table."

Ald. Andre Vasquez of the 44th Ward, one alder not part of the "Alternative 26," is frustrated by the lack of progress towards a compromise budget.

"When you're seeing two sides, making cases for different ways to solve a problem, you get at a table, you bring out the spreadsheets, you bring out the number crunchers, and you get it done," Ald. Vasquez said. "And the inability to do that is causing this problem."

Mayor Johnson said Thursday he's encouraging all City Council members to stay engaged, and his budget and finance teams have agreed to meet with alders this weekend to discuss alternative ideas. However, it's not clear if those meetings will do anything to change the mayor's positions.

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