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A senior Johnson administration official recently told Bloomberg
News such policy changes could be on the way. The city seeks to
dig itself out from under a $1 billion 2026 budget deficit and
$37 billion overall in unfunded pension liability.
The looming changes come after Johnson as a candidate pledged
not to go down that road, even going as far as to blast such
action as a “lazy form of government.”
Lopez said he’s heard enough.
“The city of Chicago is facing some serious financial
challenges, not because we necessarily have a falloff in
revenue, but simply because we have uncontrolled spending,”
Lopez told The Center Square. “We have a budget that went from
$11 billion to $17 billion in a matter of five years without
matching revenues.”
Lopez said he and other aldermen wanted to go back to pre-COVID
budgets and adjust for inflation.
“Additionally, when we look at all the new positions, programs
and expenditures that we've seen over the last five years, those
were not meant to be in perpetuity,” Lopez said.
As the property tax debate has picked up steam, Johnson has
sought to quell the growing uneasiness by backing away from the
claim and reaffirming he has no plans of enacting any such
increases any time soon.
Lopez doesn’t seem sure what to believe, especially since
Johnson’s 2024 budget included a $300 million property tax hike
proposal that only disappeared after the full City Council voted
to reject it.
“The mayor and his allies only know two things when it comes to
government, borrow more or raise more taxes,” he said. “They
don't know what it means to reduce spending because they've
never seen a taxpayer dollar that they didn't want to spend. We
need to control our spending.”
Earlier this year, Johnson brought together a team of business
leaders, elected officials and community members to study city
operations and revenue options with recommendations expected by
the end of August.
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