CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- The first of four straight days of scheduled City Council meetings aimed at breaking a logjam over the city's 2026 budget ended almost as soon as it began.
Mayor Brandon Johnson gaveled Monday morning's meeting into adjournment less than five minutes after calling it to order, as 20 out of 50 aldermen had reported themselves present. Twenty-six aldermen are needed to establish a quorum.
Among the absent aldermen were members of a group working to craft an alternative to the mayor's controversial corporate "head tax:" his $33 per worker per month levy on all companies with more than 500 employees in Chicago. The mayor says the tax he calls the "community safety surcharge" would generate more than $80 million for public safety initiatives, including job training programs for young people.
The aldermen proposing an alternative say they're concerned such a tax would stifle job growth in the city. Just before this morning's City Council meeting began, the "alternative" group released a statement saying they have refined their proposal to drop a planned increase in the city's monthly garbage collection fee from $9.50 to $15, and have restored their proposed cuts to the mayor's jobs programs.
After the City Council meeting, Mayor Johnson told reporters he was glad to see the changes.
"We're glad that they're coming to the conclusion that we already came to," the mayor said Monday afternoon. "It's really to the advantage of all Council members to support a budget that protects working people."
But his budget team says the alternate proposal relies on overly optimistic projections for how much money could be generated. Budget director Annette Guzman said projections from her office are based on "best practices" for such calculations, and stressed the importance of making accurate predictions.
"If we don't get these numbers correct, there are severe consequences," she said, citing the need to seek more cuts or tax increases in the middle of a budget year.
The mayor and his budget team met late Monday afternoon with some of the aldermen proposing an alternative to his "head tax." City Council is set to convene again Tuesday morning.