Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks after a City Council meeting on Nov. 14, 2025. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday warned that city workers could be laid off later this year if revenue projections from the coalition that put together and passed the alternative 2026 budget without the mayor’s support don’t come to fruition. 

Ald. Nicole Lee (11) speaks at a special City Council meeting on Feb. 26, 2025. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

In a historic moment Thursday, a Chicago budget went into effect that was driven and passed by a coalition of alderpeople opposed to myriad aspects of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposal. The mayor neither vetoed nor signed the budget, allowing the extraordinary act of City Council independence to stand.

Just under two-thirds of the council supported the final budget for 2026, and it remains to be seen if the revenue projections from the authors of the alternative budget plan will fully pan out. But ahead of the 2027 budget season, the coalition has vowed to stick together, and some prominent members said they hope to use that leverage in the next budget season. 

Flanked by Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48) on the left and Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33) on the right and among other progressives, Mayor Brandon Johnson signs two executive orders at City Hall on Dec. 23, 2025. [Mayor's Press Office]

Mayor Brandon Johnson signed two executive orders last week before allowing the adoption of an annual budget crafted and passed by a coalition of alderpeople opposed to various components of his initial budget proposal. 

Both executive orders are aimed at mitigating the effects of parts of the budget. The first executive order would place guardrails around the sale and collection of municipal debt to protect consumers from predatory practices, as the alternative budget plan includes a proposal to sell about $1 billion in uncollected debt owed to the city to a private party, a sale that was estimated by the alternative caucus to bring in at least $89.6 million. 

The second executive order would restore a cap on Chicago Police Department overtime spending that was in Johnson’s annual management ordinance proposal but omitted from the substitute version passed by the City Council.

A panel including Alds. Jessie Fuentes (26), Matt O'Shea (19), Samantha Nugent (39) and Jason Ervin (28) are pictured at a City Club luncheon on Nov. 19, 2025. [Livestream]

After an impasse over the 2026 city budget was laid bare this week, four members of the City Council appeared on a City Club of Chicago panel Wednesday to debate potential solutions to the city’s nearly $1.2 billion budget gap, with all of them seeming to agree that a property tax levy hike, even though not currently proposed, should be off the table.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas attends a county budget hearing on Oct. 30, 2025. [Livestream]

A stark drop in commercial property values in the Loop is one of the main drivers behind sticker stock for homeowners that recently received second installment Cook County property tax bills, according to a study released this week by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office. 

The increase in property tax bills hit some of Chicago’s Black communities the hardest, the study also showed.