Two key initiatives backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson hit roadblocks Wednesday, as his allies on the Chicago City Council moved to delay final votes on both proposals.
Alds. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), Jason Ervin (28th Ward) and Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) used a parliamentary procedure known as defer and publish to prevent votes on Wednesday. Both proposals could get a vote at the next City Council meeting, set for 12:45 p.m. Friday.
Despite the procedural maneuvers, the proposal to borrow $1.25 billion during the next five years to fund a wide-ranging slate of projects designed to expand the supply of affordable homes and good-paying jobs cleared the City Council’s Finance Committee Wednesday morning.
The complicated proposal to phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on tax increment financing districts, known as TIFs, advanced on a vote of 20-9 after allies of the mayor rejected an attempt by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) to increase the amount of control the Chicago City Council would have over how the funds are spent.
The plan now requires the City Council to approve all projects worth $5 million or more, a provision that was added after alderpeople complained the original proposal did not include enough oversight.
An effort by Reilly to require City Council approval for all projects worth $1 million or more failed, two days after Ald. Bill Conway (34th Ward) made a similar effort.
If approved, the plan would make major changes to the way the city approaches economic development.
Johnson has touted the proposal as a fulfillment of a promise he made during the 2023 campaign to make Chicago a more equitable place to live by “investing in people” and expanding the city’s economic capacity — without raising taxes on Chicago property owners.
Also delayed Wednesday was a vote on a proposal backed by Johnson to spend an additional $70 million to house, feed and care for the migrants sent to Chicago from the southern border.
Six weeks ago, Johnson pointedly declined to join Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle when they announced an agreement to set aside an additional $250 million to care for the migrants through the end of the year.
Johnson’s decision to ask the City Council to amend the city’s 2024 budget is an acknowledgment that city officials’ repeated and impassioned pleas for help from the federal government in addressing the humanitarian crisis engulfing the city had fallen on deaf ears, alderpeople said.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
