CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and aldermen are setting the table for a Thanksgiving season full of behind-the-scenes negotiating, as they try to get to "yes" on a budget for next year.
And leaders in City Council acknowledge the path to a budget agreement includes a feast of tough choices.
"No one wants to put cuts on the table," said West side Alderman Jason Ervin, the mayoral ally who chairs the council's Budget and Government Operations Committee.
But he says that's what aldermen faces as they look to balance a budget without the mayor's proposed corporate "head tax," which was rejected in committee on Monday, and without a property tax increase, which the mayor says he'll veto.
"No one wants to sign up to say 'I'm the one that cut your garbage service, I'm the one that cut your police service,'" said Ald. Ervin (28th Ward) after Tuesday's short City Council meeting.
Finance Committee chair Pat Dowell from the South side says it's not that simple.
"More efficiencies are necessary," said Ald. Dowell (3rd Ward). "What those things are, we're going to take the next couple of days to identify those things."
Ald. Dowell says she's especially concerned about the potential unintended consequences of the mayor's head tax, which he calls a $21 per worker per month "Community Safety Surcharge:" "I'm fundamentally opposed to a head tax, so I'm a hard 'no.'"
The latest version of the mayor's budget would exempt companies with fewer than 100 employees from the "head tax," and set aside $18 million to provide grants to small businesses.
The next City Council meeting is set for December 10, and the city must pass a budget by December 31.