The mayor is open to a “plethora of ideas” so long as they don’t compromise his core values of “investing in people” through summer jobs, community safety, behavioral health and affordable housing but also avoiding layoffs and furlough days and continuing to make additional payments on

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.

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

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 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.

Twenty-two of the City Council’s 50 members met Saturday with top mayoral aides, including Johnson’s budget team, to begin negotiations that, some alderpersons said, should have started long before Johnson belatedly introduced his $17.

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.