CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Days after the Chicago City Council unanimously rejected a $300 million dollar property tax hike, there appears to be a new solution to balance the City's budget.
Higher taxes on streaming services and cloud computing would offset lowering the property tax hike to $150 million, half of what Mayor Johnson originally proposed.
That's according to the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported negotiators are also ready to cut $14 million in what they're calling "redundancies and efficiencies,"but no layoffs or program cuts. The mayor framed the defeat last week as a part of a healthy process.
"This is something that my administration can handle. I am not intimidated by voices of individuals who are City leaders in their own respect," Johnson said.
However, several aldermen are asking if the mayor could cut the property tax hike in half, how much lower could it go?
Alderman Anthony Beale told the paper that if the Johnson administration could cut the $300 million increase in a couple of days, it means they're still trying to, in his words, "hoodwink the people of Chicago instead of making the spending cuts needed to put the city back on track."
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