Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled his “Protecting Chicago” 2026 budget to the City Council last week, but the plan deepened divisions with several Southwest Side aldermen.
In his budget address on Oct. 16, Johnson highlighted the use of $1 billion from the city’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) surplus to stabilize the budget long-term, aiming to offset federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump.
In response, Southwest Side aldermen dispute the budget’s viability noting proposed funding increases depend on state approval, less TIF dollars available to the city than the mayor reported and a lack of funding cuts with the exception of Southwest Side ward needs that continue to be ignored by Johnson in favor of wards that support him.
“The mayor didn’t present a budget,” said Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd). “He presented a socialist’s wish list of tax increases. Many of his plans require approval from Springfield and it’s unlikely he’ll be successful getting approval from the legislature. His plan provides no efficiencies, no reforms, and relies on squeezing businesses who provide jobs to cover his bloated spending.”
As budget hearings begin in November and December, Tabares and colleagues plan to push for operational cuts while protecting core services like public safety and infrastructure.
Johnson said the budget will increase funding for public schools, city colleges, parks, libraries and more, while promising Chicagoans over $200 million in cost savings. To close a $1.2 billion debt, he proposed reinstating a corporate head tax, a new Social Media, Amusement and Responsibility Tax (SMART tax), a hiring freeze, and a Personal Property Lease Transaction tax on internet cloud services, among other ideas like a Yacht Tax.
Estimated TIF revenues in categorized and appropriated funds are typically not equal to the balanced budget Mayor Johnson proposed due to estimated spending totals relied upon by the administration, according to the Better Government Association’s preliminary 2026 budget snapshot.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said the actual usage amount the proposed budget makes available to the city is approximately $240 million.
After TIF districts are initiated, property taxes going to taxing bodies are capped; the remaining surplus goes into TIF funds.
The percentage of each resident’s property taxes shared by the city with taxing bodies like the Chicago Board of Education or Water Reclamation district, for example, is roughly 24 percent. For every dollar surplused only 24 cents comes to the city with over half going to the Chicago Board of Education for the Chicago Public School system, he said.
Multiplying $1 billion by 24 cents comes to approximately $240 million going to the city with half of that going to public education, Lopez said.
Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) says TIF funds are one option for erasing Chicago’s debt but because TIFs are used to incentivize development, he questions the mayor’s method of choice.
“Is it the right way to cure a budget?” he said. “To lean so heavily on TIF money? He’s utilizing a good portion of it, half of it, to solve the Chicago Public School budget. When you’re using one-time fixes you’re not fixing the structure of the budget; you’re merely putting a band-aid on it.”
Budget cuts were not specifically addressed by the mayor during his presentation, Quinn noted.
“In very vague language he talked about looking for redundancies, selling off some city land and a deep freeze on hiring,” he said. “We should have been on a hiring freeze last year. This problem is not new.”
The mayor’s proposed 2026 budget cuts also include a $118 million reduction to the city’s planned pension contribution and capping Chicago Police overtime pay, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Overtime reduction for Chicago Police does not make sense, according to Quinn.
“What’s causing all that overtime?,” he said. “It’s the security around all the ward festivals that’s causing all the overtime. Start reducing the number of events in the wards. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be against the police and their budget and then say ‘by the way, for the next three months I have all these festivals in my ward that need additional police security.’ There’s a lot of hypocrisy coming out of some of these alders.”
An additional concern for Quinn is about existing and proposed project funding being swept away by the mayor to pay for projects described in his proposed 2026 budget, he said.
“Maybe a park district needs a boiler, maybe a school has issues with their heating, we’ve done some sport fields using TIFs,” Quinn said. “That’s no longer because all that money tailored for construction is now going to fill a budget hole. A lot of my residents are tradesmen looking for the next construction project.”
Quinn said he has strong feelings about the Mayor’s proposed budget that continues to ignore Southwest Side ward needs.
The budget lacks funding for a new Southwest Side police district, financing a new facility for over-crowded Hubbard High School, with partners Alderman Tabares and $15 million from state Rep. Angie Guerrero-Cuellar, along with a new Career Ready curriculum,” he said.
Quinn believes the mayor’s unprecedented “Social Media Amusement & Responsibility Tax” (SMART) proposal to generate revenue is an idea that is yet to be addressed and would need approval from the Illinois legislature during a veto session that has already begun.
Increasing taxes on wealthy corporations, persons and reinstatement of a corporate head tax prompting big corporation exodus from Chicago also concerns Quinn.
The mayor’s failure to understand big business’ ability to stabilize Chicago’s tax base with potential new professionals coming to Chicago, is a problem, he said.
“What aggravates me most about this budget is his talk about financial relief for south and west side flood victims. Fine.” Quinn said. “Where’s the financial relief for Southwest Side flood victims from July and August? Over 1,200 311 calls. FEMA was out twice in 30 days doing assessments. Nowhere in this budget does it talk about relief for hardworking Southwest Side residents. It’s a complete, blatant disregard by this mayor relative to residents.”
Alderman Lopez doesn’t believe Mayor Johnson’s budget amounts to anything because it does not reflect reality by relying on non-existent remedies.
He cited the newly negotiated Fire Department contract, saying the mayor’s budget doesn’t consider firefighters’ new pay scale beginning next year.
“Using an outdated rate of pay, the administration figured we’d have to spend $499 million on salary and personnel costs for the firemen,” Lopez said. “They’re expected to get an 18 percent raise according to the contract we just ratified. This budget means we are now $90 million short just for the firemen’ s salaries alone.”
Lopez sees the budget as politically motivated, designed to shore up support in communities needed to survive a potential run-off challenge in 2027 elections rather than equitably serving the entire city.
“The same tactics that Brandon Johnson decries Trump using on Chicago, Johnson is using on neighborhoods all across the city, picking winners and losers at the public taxpayer’s expense,” Lopez said.