Chicago faces a $882.4 million budget gap next year, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Thursday as he teed up his next fight for “tax-the-rich” funding streams he believes are needed to offset the city’s severe financial woes.
“We will not balance this budget on the backs of working people,” Johnson said as he released his annual budget forecast. “We will continue to fight for progressive, equitable revenues that ask those who can afford to contribute more to actually do more, while protecting the essential services Chicagoans depend on.”
The budget gap is not unexpected and is smaller than anticipated, officials said. But it is still one of the largest deficits in the city’s history, forcing yet another season of contentious conversations between Johnson and the Council over how to close it…