Statement on My Vote in Favor of the Council’s Alternative Budget

After hearing from many constituents, countless conversations with stakeholders, and much personal deliberation, I came to the very hard decision to support the alternative budget proposal developed by members of the City Council.

At the end of the day, most of Mayor Johnson’s proposal and the alternative proposal were the same, differing by less than 2 percent of the overall City budget.

There is no grocery tax.

There is no garbage fee increase.

There is no significant property tax increase; rather, only a small increase to preserve jobs and books and materials budgets at the Chicago Public Library.

Both proposals include increases in the personal property lease tax, much of which is paid by large corporations who use cloud computing services. 

Both proposals include increased collection of debts owed to the City by residents and businesses. (This fact has been lost in the heated rhetoric around debt collection in recent days.)

Both proposals included a historic TIF surplus declaration, which will benefit schools and other agencies.

And both the Mayor’s most recent proposal and the alternative budget include:

• Increases for gender-based violence prevention.

• Additional positions for the Department of Animal Care and Control.

• Funding requested by the Mayor for violence prevention and youth programs.

• No cuts to the library book budget.

  
  

I am also happy that the alternative budget maintains youth mentoring programs that the Mayor’s original budget had eliminated.

Like the Mayor’s proposal, the alternative is not perfect. I have serious concerns about several aspects, including additional debt collection measures and removal of a provision to require additional City Council approval for police overtime over $200 million. But we need to keep City government running, and we need to keep up with our obligations. Failing to do that in the past led to huge budgetary problems and extreme cuts to services that affected our communities. The old pattern of kicking cans down the road has continued to contribute to the difficulties we face today. We MUST do better now - for our kids and for the future.

It has been clear for some time that Mayor Johnson’s budget did not have the support needed to pass through the Finance Committee, let alone the Council. From the start, I was clear about the things that concerned me about the Mayor’s proposal.

As I considered my vote, I reached out to leaders of the alternative budget effort and strongly expressed my concerns about the debt collection and police overtime issues and encouraged them to find common ground with the Mayor on the head tax. Ultimately, given the choice between two imperfect budgets, I had to decide which was the better, more viable option. I made the decision to cast my vote for the alternative budget with our future in mind.

From the beginning, the alternative budget included a full advance pension payment. This is a major plus for me, since it will help preserve the City’s credit rating, keep future borrowing costs down, and preserve more funding for programs and services in the future. A few days ago, at the very last minute, the Mayor did finally introduce a proposal to make the full advance pension payment - something I had been asking the Mayor’s office to do for weeks! - but without any path for successfully moving it forward. 

For the record, I had no problem with the head tax. I strongly believe that large corporations should pay their fair share, but the budget is about more than just one issue. The alternative budget I supported still includes a significant increase in the personal property lease tax, much of which falls upon large companies that use cloud computing services. Do not let this difficult vote in a difficult situation cloud or confuse the issue - I fully support progressive ideas for revenue and will continue to advocate for progressive tax policy.

Moving forward, I will immediately begin working with my Council colleagues and the administration to make sure there are adequate guardrails to protect vulnerable families in debt collection efforts, keep a careful watch on police overtime, and make structural reforms that improve the City’s financial position.

This was a tough call, and I know this decision will not be supported by some of you. I understand that. But the voters elected me to make difficult decisions when necessary, and this is one of those times. We had to pass a budget and keep our government running - and the alternative budget represented the only clear path forward. I stand by my vote.