Twenty-two of the City Council’s 50 members met Saturday with top mayoral aides, including Johnson’s budget team, to begin negotiations that, some alderpersons said, should have started long before Johnson belatedly introduced his $17.

Desperate to avoid hitting Chicago home and business owners with a $300 million property tax increase, aldermen pelted the mayor’s finance team Wednesday with questions about alternatives to plug the 2025 budget hole.

Johnson campaigned on a promise not to raise property taxes, but said he was left with no choice given the city's massive budget shortfall.

The Chicago City Council will continue budget hearings this week while Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposed $300 million property tax increase is top of mind for aldermen.

The Chicago City Council will continue budget hearings this week while Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposed $300 million property tax increase is top of mind for aldermen. Many city leaders have called for a special meeting to reject the proposed increase to make room for alternative solutions.

Brandon Johnson reduced the property tax hike in his proposed budget to $150 million after a majority of City Council members opposed.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday will propose Chicago’s largest property tax hike in almost a decade as part of his $17.3 billion budget plan for next year. The $300 million increase that would hit Chicago homeowners,