* Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked if his budget requests have shifted during a press availability today…
Reporter: So we know that there are lots of questions about what could happen in Washington and how that funding could affect what comes to Illinois. Governor Pritzker presented a very austere budget. Does that mean the city is now adjusting what its requests are for the legislature? And can you offer a little bit of how you might be adjusting what you’ll be asking?
Mayor Johnson: As I said before, what the state of Illinois is dealing with, the state of Maryland, states across the country, cities across the country, are dealing with these deficits. And these are heavy lifts in this moment, and I do want to acknowledge that. And look, we fought hard to secure $426 million from the federal government to respond to the to the victims of flooding back in 2023. So we’re moving full speed ahead to repair the damage in those homes, as well as make sure that individuals who are repairing that damage reflect the neighborhood where the damage occurred.
So there is some uncertainty. If I get this right, I believe [Christina Pacione-Zayas] said that about 80% of the funding for CDPH is through grants, 85% federal grants, right? So there are some real challenges, make no mistake about that. And this is why local governments, as well as state government, will have to show up in a stronger way. Now, in the city’s budget, we did have cuts across the board. I’m not going to look back at our commissioners, because I know I’m going to trigger them in a second, but they worked hard to find the 3% — It was only 3% right? — Okay, all right. They said only sure mayor, only.
They found those efficiencies, and that wasn’t that wasn’t easy, and they found them. But we didn’t have to lay people off. We didn’t have to cut services.
In terms of our request. Look, our state and its vibrancy is certainly connected to the vibrancy of the city of Chicago. Everybody’s in agreement with that. Our requests are not that much different than any other municipalities across this the state. We still need more support for special education, for bilingual education, transportation within our public schools.
So those requests, we’re still holding strong to those. Our Chief Operations Officer, part of his portfolio, and the 20 plus years of service that he is lended to the city and the county, he has been a part of every single department in the city of Chicago [during] course of his time, and we’re looking very closely at Chicago Transit Authority and how we can have more equitable funding.
Help me out here. [Chief Operating Officer John Robinson], I believe, CTA we attribute for what percentage of the overall transportation input into the state?
Robertson: Over 80 percent.
Johnson: Over 80 percent. But do we get what back? About 40 percent, right? So that’s an unequitable distribution, in terms of our output. And so we want balance and equitable structures that complement who we are as a city.
And then, as I mentioned before, progressive revenue is one that we are still paying attention to. But there are mayors across the state we’re all in agreement that the LGDF structure is woefully underwhelming, right? So we want to see some progress there. And you know, we’ll continue to push the General Assembly to help support local municipalities. And then, of course, as I said before, the personal property replacement tax and the telecom tax just some areas of cleanup that we need to do to ensure that there’s revenue available for our cities.
The last thing that I’ll say to this is working people in the city of Chicago elected a working class man to fight for working class people. And that doesn’t change, because the circumstances are in flux. We have to remain committed to our overall agenda to repopulate Chicago with working people. Right now we can conservatively get 400,000 more people in Chicago. Aren’t we looking forward to 400,000 more people in the city of Chicago? We are! And that’s going to help increase our tax base. It’s going to put more people in homes. It’s going to make sure that our schools are vibrant, with young, smiling, diverse faces across the globe. So in other words, my commitment to working people has not changed. We’re going to push to ensure that investments in our city reflect the output of our city.
- Not a Fan - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:12 pm:
The state of Maryland? Progressive revenue? The mayor needs to be prepped before doing Q&A. I am shocked and disappointed that his chief of staff is a former state senator and his office has had no Springfield plan or presence. A major reworking of his team is long overdue.
- Macon Deliberations - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:14 pm:
And now we are back to Chicago politicians pretending property taxes won’t be increasing soon, even if everyone else in the state knows otherwise. Doesn’t matter whether or not the appetite is there, the pocketbook determines the appetite. All for enacting soda tax and other revenue streams that don’t target essentials. That said, it’s about time politicians of all stripes to be honest with Chicagoans, property taxes will rise at some point in the near future.
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:16 pm:
In lieu of rage posting on social media…didn’t this same administration fail to get a “modest” $40M a year local tax on some phone services approved at Statehouse just a couple months ago?
Never mind reading the ILGA room, I’m starting to think they can’t even find the ILGA room if we spotted them a map.
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:18 pm:
He’s gonna grow the population of Chicago by 400,000 people??
If all 400,000 are supportive of the mayor, maybe he would see his polling hit double digits.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:24 pm:
This press conference could be in Russia or Chinese, and you could tell something is wrong just by everyone’s body language. Sheesh.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:27 pm:
Mayor Johnson’s answer to everything seems to be that the state needs to take care of it.
- Bob - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:38 pm:
States are on their own. Even red states are getting the finger from the feds when it comes to FEMA relief.
We don’t have to like it, but we do have to acknowledge it. The federal regime wants us hurting. It’s up to us. No help is coming.
- Manchester - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:40 pm:
Mayor Johnson needs to realize that the state is likely to suffer numerous budget hits due to the Trump administration, that state dollars are limited and while Chicago should expect its fair share, there will be lots of competition for those dollars.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
Mayor Johnson needs a reality check.
- Sue - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
And yet facing austerity- the Mayor refuses any cuts or supporting
closing schools with 30 percent utilization- he doesn’t deserve a dime more from JB
- King Louis XVI - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:45 pm:
It’s all so delusional.
- Alton Sinkhole - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:46 pm:
He’s just not that bright
- Incandenza - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:51 pm:
== He’s gonna grow the population of Chicago by 400,000 people?? ==
If there was less red tape to develop new housing, the city could tap a revenue stream from an expanded property tax base. In terms of number of added new units annually, IL is way behind its peer states.
Our stagnant population isn’t just about jobs and weather, it’s also about whether we have a robustly growing housing stock.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:54 pm:
If the grants and other cuts go through the State of Illinois along with 49 other states is going to be plugging holes in the budget and cutting everything to the bone. Johnson needs to be prepared when that happens and asking the state for help isn’t that.
- Center Drift - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 12:58 pm:
Ok, your population is declining but you want more money. Great, take it from your residents and leave the rest of us alone.
- Thomas Paine - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 1:06 pm:
According to the national think tank Up for Growth, Chicagoland had a shortage of 129K housing units in 2019, about 100K units in the City of Chicago.
That means that six years ago, Chicago was short 100K units to meet the market demand.
I don’t know whether that figure is still accurate, but its definitely within the ballpark of what Mayor Johnson is claiming.
The responses on this thread underscore the huge credibility deficit the mayor faces. I am not saying he should stop having pressers, but he should definitely stop having them unless he is surrounded by a cadre of third party experts who can validate him.
https://upforgrowth.org/apply-the-vision/housing-underproduction/
- Steve - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 1:19 pm:
-Right now we can conservatively get 400,000 more people in Chicago-
Technically, Johnson is right. The only problem is there’s not much evidence that a city which is in a pro-union state and has high property and sales taxes can achieve this. Especially under a Republican president with a Republican Congress. Even building public housing in Chicago is quite expensive.
- Rudy’s teeth - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 1:35 pm:
MBJ refers to himself as a working man. What. A mere five years in the classroom, a gig in CTU offices, and now the mayor’s office.
Don’t know many working men who have an entourage of bodyguards and a hair and makeup artist on call.
Closing under enrolled schools would be a positive for city finances but his handlers at CTU don’t agree.
- West Side the Best Side - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 2:05 pm:
Mayor Johnson - Please don’t go to DC and appear before Congress. Those folks are not your friends. Any questions they ask will not be as innocuous as the question asked in this post.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Feb 25, 25 @ 2:13 pm:
As lousy as the mayor’s approval is right now he has nothing to lose by being honest about the need for a property tax increase. At this point JB is just biding his time waiting to see who the next mayor will be.