Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed head tax on companies with more than 200 employees appeared dead after the City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday rejected the mayor’s budget.
But oh, no, no, mayoral ally Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, chair of the Budget Committee, said at the City Club on Wednesday. The mayor has a veto, and opponents of his head tax don’t have the votes to override. They’ll need to work with the mayor’s budgeteers on a plan the council can approve and the mayor will sign.
While it’s true Johnson’s City Council opponents lack the votes to override a Johnson veto, the mayor can’t yet pass his $16.6 billion budget, filling a $1.19 billion budget gap, either. And both sides face a hard deadline — Dec. 31, after which city spending must stop until a new budget is passed.
This is a classic political standoff, and the major players on both sides need to get to work, on behalf of the people of Chicago, to work through their differences and build a path toward a budget that can run an efficient, safe, equitable and fiscally sound city. Already, city workers are worried about their jobs, residents are concerned about city services and Chicago’s credit rating is suffering from the uncertainty.
