Desperate to avoid hitting Chicago home and business owners with a $300 million property tax increase, aldermen pelted the mayor’s finance team Wednesday with questions about alternatives to plug the 2025 budget hole.

Johnson campaigned on a promise not to raise property taxes, but said he was left with no choice given the city's massive budget shortfall.

While campaigning to be mayor prior to his election in April 2023, Brandon Johnson repeatedly vowed he would not raise city property taxes. But with Chicago facing a budget deficit of

Mayor Brandon Johnson late last month proposed a $300 million property tax hike in an effort to close a nearly $1B budget gap.

The increase would be Chicago's largest in a decade, but alderpersons hope to force the mayor back to the bargaining table to find other revenue sources, budget cuts, or both.

When lukewarm applause followed Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget address Wednesday, it was clear what had sucked the enthusiasm from City Council chambers. The foundation of Johnson’s $17.3 billion spending plan: a $300 million property tax increase.

A majority of Chicago aldermen are planning to vote to reject the $300 million property tax increase at the heart of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed 2025 budget. A group of 29 aldermen banded together Thursday to call a special meeting next Wednesday where the full City Council is set to vote on the property tax hike.