The overwhelming vote was largely symbolic. Negotiations aimed at reducing or eliminating the property tax increase and replacing it with a healthy mix of new revenues and reprogrammed federal pandemic relief funds began last weekend.

The Chicago City Council emphatically voted down Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to hike property taxes by $300 million Thursday, creating a yawning hole in the city’s 2025 budget that must now be closed.

Dozens of aldermen called for a special meeting to vote down the mayor's proposed $300 million property tax increase.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is all but giving up on his proposed $300 million property tax hike before aldermen kill it, and pushing them to find other revenue in its place to avert layoffs. Johnson’s administration is combing over alternatives to the tax jump after members of the City Council scheduled a special meeting in the hopes of voting it down.

One day before City Council plans to say no to his $300 million property tax hike, Mayor Brandon Johnson publicly walked away from his proposal.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is vowing to work with City Council members who are dead set on lowering or eliminating the property tax increase he has proposed.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is all but giving up on his proposed $300 million property tax hike before aldermen kill it, and pushing them to find other revenue in its place to avert layoffs. Johnson’s administration is combing over alternatives to the tax jump ahead of a meeting Wednesday where the City Council is expected to vote it down.