Chicago mayor refuses to sign or veto budget at ‘not a campaign event’

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A new Chicago budget is set to take effect, even though the city’s mayor refused to sign it.

Flanked by Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and several aldermanic allies, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday he would not sign or veto the budget passed by the city council last Saturday, but he would let it take effect to avoid risk or speculation of a government shutdown.

The $16.7 billion spending plan includes higher taxes on cloud computing, liquor and plastic bags, along with rideshare surcharges and a roughly $1 billion sweep of tax-increment financing funds to Chicago Public Schools.

The “alternative” budget passed by aldermen did not include a corporate head tax proposed by the mayor. The measure would have imposed a $33 per-employee monthly tax on businesses with more than 500 workers.

“Despite the fact that there was one particular element that the people of Chicago overwhelmingly supported that we were not able to hold onto in this budget, aren’t you glad that we have many more budgets to pass?” Johnson said.

Even without the mayor’s head tax on employers, Michael K. Harris Jr. of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association said businesses are again being asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the city’s financial burden.

“It is long past time for the city to acknowledge the cycle of continually increasing taxes and spending is unsustainable and risks undermining Chicago’s long-term viability,” Harris said before the city council last Friday.

Johnson issued executive orders prohibiting the sale of city-administered medical debt owed by individuals to private entities and banning the Chicago Police Department from exceeding the budget cap on overtime without mayoral and city council authorization.

The mayor repeated his opposition to a debt collection measure in the council-approved budget, which allows the city to sell city debt to private collectors.

Johnson suggested that he could make changes to the budget in the coming days.

“We all agree that the budget is a living document,” Johnson said.

The mayor said he wanted to clarify something when a reporter asked him about making his announcement at a “campaign-style” event.

“This is not a campaign event. The last I checked, this is the office of the mayor and I’m the mayor,” Johnson said as his supporters cheered.

The mayor said he wanted to be careful not to put the Office of Inspector General in a position where people are being investigated because of the type of question that was asked.

“In fact, what you are seeing right now is a more powerful display, because campaigns come and go. This movement is here to stay. As far as our power in concerned, who’s questioning our power right now?” Johnson asked.

Johnson said he would continue pushing Illinois state lawmakers to pass a millionaire’s tax and other forms of what he called “progressive revenue,” adding that he had had conversations with Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, state Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Chicago Flips Red Vice President Danielle Carter-Walters opposed the mayor’s budget but said the alternate plan also fails taxpaying citizens.

“When I look in this budget, all it’s doing is slow-killing us, nickel-and-diming us with taxes,” Carter-Walters said.

The city is required by law to pass a budget by Dec. 31. With no action from the mayor, the 2026 budget is set to take effect.