Chicago mayor may find resistance to revenue push at Illinois Capitol
[April 29, 2025]
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is likely to face
some resistance from elected officials when he leads a delegation to
Springfield on Tuesday. Chicago faces a more than $1 billion budget
deficit and the mayor is likely to ask for state taxpayers to pay more
to bail out the city.
The mayor plans to meet with Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker
Emanuel "Chris" Welch, D-Hillside, and state Senate President Don
Harmon, D-Oak Park, among others, at the Illinois Capitol.
Johnson’s chief of staff is former Illinois state Sen. Cristina
Pacione-Zayas, D-Chicago. She says the mayor’s team remains focused on
revenue.
“So that’s the telecom tax as well as the 911 surcharge, there’s been
some discussions around the PPRT (Illinois Personal Property Replacement
Tax) within the budget, the One System Initiative investments, and then,
of course, transit and having those discussions,” Pacione-Zayas said.
Pacione-Zayas also mentioned increased reimbursements for services
mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education, such as
transportation, special education and bilingual education.
Pritzker said his administration put the budget together in the latter
half of last year and presented it in February. The governor did not
rule out changes to accommodate Chicago.
“It’ll be hard for us to talk about things in the current budget, though
again, maybe there are things we can move around in the budget that’ll
be beneficial to the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said.
The mayor has previously asked for more state funding of education and
suggested progressive revenue ideas.
“That’s a decision by the city of Chicago about whether they will find
sources of progressive revenue,” Pritzker said.
Johnson said the city is facing a budget deficit of more than $1
billion, but Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack told The Center Square
the budget shortfall is actually going to be $1.5 billion or more.
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in Springfield in May of 2024 -
BlueRoomStream
Waguespack said the mayor’s office doesn’t have a legislative
agenda, especially on budgetary or finance issues. He said aldermen
have been trying to put together an agenda.
“With the mayor, you know, poking the eye of the governor, it’s not
going over well, so we are trying to speak to the governor’s people
to really kind of work in a different way, in a different kind of
partnership, because we know we’re going to need state assistance
and federal assistance to get through this next year,” Waguespack
told The Center Square.
Chicago Public Schools outlined plans for students, parents and
educators to travel to Springfield Tuesday to advocate for more
education funding and urged school families to lobby state
lawmakers.
CPS agreed to an estimated $1.5 billion-dollar deal with the Chicago
Teachers Union earlier this month. The agreement raises the average
CPS teacher’s annual base salary to more than $114,000 by the time
the four-year contract ends.
Illinois state Sen. Craig Wilcox, R-Woodstock, said Johnson is
“renewing his push for increased state funding for the city despite
ongoing criticism from Republican lawmakers who say suburban and
downstate taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for the
City’s poor financial decisions.”
“We are, after all, not the Mayor’s personal piggy bank,” Wilcox
said in an email to constituents. “Taxpayers should not be left to
once again bail out Chicago for years of financial mismanagement.
Rather, the Mayor should focus on implementing real reforms instead
of asking overtaxed Illinoisans to take on additional burdens that
benefit only Chicago.”
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