CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - As Mayor Johnson prepares to unveil his budget plan this morning, which is expected to include calls for a property tax hike, a group of aldermen say they have proof the people don’t want it.
Fourteen Chicago aldermen have written a letter to the mayor saying a recent poll of Chicago residents shows only one in ten trust Johnson, while half trust the aldermen.
The poll conducted in the last two weeks says 90 percent oppose raising property taxes. The group that includes frequent critics of the mayor, like Ray Lopez and Brendon Reilly, writes that they will vote against the budget unless the mayor does a number of things.
Their demands include rejecting a property tax increase, renewing the ShotSpotter contract, creating a new Southwest Side police district and rejecting calls from the Chicago Teachers Union to dismantle TIFs, calling it “misguided.”
The questionnaire of 850 Chicagoans listed crime and public safety as their top concern.
To be clear, ever since Mayor Johnson disclosed that Chicago faces a nearly billion dollar budget shortfall, he has said “everything” is on the table when it comes to confronting it. But, political analyst Mike Flannery suggests that if the Mayor is going to ask to hike property taxes, it may make some voters wince.
“Brsndon Johnson’s promise not to raise property taxes is one that…he repeated at almost every campaign stop, and he would not just say it almost every campaign stop, and he wouldn’t just say it once, he’d say it multiple times,” Flannery says. “Abandoning that now and refusing to confront the public employee unions who could perhaps save taxpayers a few bucks, I think is something voters are not just going to feel in the pocket book but are going to remember when the next mayoral election rolls around.”
The votes that will count first though, and on the Chicago City Council. He’ll need at least 26.
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