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<p>Chicago Mayor Brandon says he will sign a 2026 budget that he has called “morally bankrupt,” in favor of staving off political gridlock and the risk of an unprecedented government shutdown.&nbsp;</p><p>Johnson’s team announced the decision first to camera operators and photographers welcomed into his ceremonial office for the signing.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>By signing the budget, Johnson solidifies the will of 30 alders, mostly moderate and conservative, who took control of this year’s budget process and passed the spending portion of their rival plan at a rare Saturday council meeting.&nbsp;</p><p>The budget nixes Johnson’s $82 million head tax on large firms in favor of hiking the tax on off-premise alcohol; increasing the plastic bag fee; selling ad space on city lightpoles and bridge houses; legalizing video gambling at bars and restaurants; and selling Chicagoans unpaid debt to private collectors.</p><p>Those revenue streams will also help the city make a full advanced pension payment, a policy lauded by credit rating agencies. Johnson shrunk the advanced pension payment in his initial budget proposal amid a $1.2 billion budget gap.</p><p>But the city’s budget director and Chief Financial Officer have said the council’s rival proposal is based on faulty revenue projections and will leave a $163 million budget gap. That could require mid-year layoffs, furloughs, a hiring freeze or cuts in 2026.</p><p>Still, a Johnson veto would have pushed the city to the brink of a government shutdown, as City Hall faces a state-imposed, end-of-year deadline to pass a budget.</p><p>Negotiations between Johnson and the majority coalition have been fruitless, and it’s not clear how Johnson would have prevailed after the coalition took complete control of the budget process, winning over a majority of the council.</p><p>Without a spending plan come Jan. 1, the city wouldn’t be able to pay workers or contractors. Essential workers could have to work unpaid, the city’s top attorney</p><p>The coalition of alders who seized control of the budget process had also scheduled a Dec. 29 meeting specifically to override Johnson’s veto. They maintained confidence they could muster a 34-vote veto-proof majority to do so.</p><p>On Friday, before council approved the revenue portion of their plan, Johnson introduced a revised version of his own that still includes a corporate head tax on 500-plus-employee companies, but makes the full pension payment and legalizes video gambling at Midway Airport. Johnson’s new plan also keeps the council’s proposed increased bag tax, and poses a new $0.15 tax on packaged delivery items.</p><p>But it was banished to the Rules Committee shortly after it was introduced.</p><p>The opposition coalition, led in part by Johnson’s own Finance Committee Chair Pat Dowell (3rd), seized control of the budget process this year in a way not seen since the days of the 1980s Council Wars that saw 29 mostly white alderpersons thwart Mayor Harold Washington’s every move.</p><p>Back then, Washington vetoed Council-led appropriation ordinances four times — in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986, according to records from the City Clerk.</p>

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December 23, 2025 at 10:55AM