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Quote/Term of the Week
Revenue / noun
The total income, or how much money is produced. The city’s revenue, for example, is generated from multiple sources such as fines, fees, taxes, bonds and grants.
So the budget has been introduced… what now?
We’re back and so is the Chicago city budget process. But first, a quick recap:
Ahead of the Thanksgiving break, City Council’s finance committee overwhelmingly rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s revenue plan, striking down a key proponent of his 2026 budget proposal.
Chicago faces a $1.15 billion shortfall, partly due to federal funding cuts and expiring COVID-era grants, such as funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). That likely will mean some big cuts to some city departments that have used that money to support or scale up their work in recent years. The city’s Department of Family and Support Services, for example, received $109 million in ARPA funds in 2025 but may only get $4.6 million in 2026. The Chicago Department of Public Health, which lost $125 million in COVID-related grants earlier this year, could lose an additional $200 million in those grants in 2026.
What happens next?
Now that departmental budget hearings are complete and budget-related ordinances have been introduced, City Council moves into the amendment phase, where alders can workshop and propose changes.
Then, the Committee on Budget and Government Operations will vote on whether to approve a modified version of the budget. Meanwhile, the Committee on Finance will take another vote on the city's revenue plan.
What will that revenue plan look like? It’s not immediately clear, but there’s already some behind-the-scenes jockeying.
Some alders are working on an alternate revenue plan that might include doubling the city’s garbage collection fee, the Sun Times’ Fran Spielman reported. Raising that fee has been divisive in previous budget negotiations. Johnson’s team isn’t on board with alternative plans and hasn’t given up on the corporate head tax, which he’s banking on to raise $100 million for social services.
Last year, City Council approved the city’s 2025 spending plan on Dec. 16, a whopping 47 days after Mayor Brandon Johnson introduced his budget proposal.
The budget was approved 27 to 23, just one vote over the minimum needed. The final version of the budget was shared with alders less than 24 hours before the vote.
Regardless of what the timeline looks like this year, City Council must pass a budget by Dec. 31.
It’s time for a #ChiBudgetSzn🤑 Breakdown
There’s been a lot of talk about this controversial revenue plan, and it’s easy to get lost in the jargon. Let’s break it down:
The city of Chicago’s budget uses multiple sources of revenue (how the city makes or collects money) to pay for various expenses (how the city spends money). All the money the city collects (or revenue) gets funneled into several funds that organize what money can go where.
From there, the money is routed to every city department, program, service and more (expenses).
You can get a feel for how money goes from funds to specific departments and services through the city’s budget flow chart.
How this is playing out in #ChiBudgetSzn🤑
We mentioned the mayor’s revenue plan — that’s an example of trying to generate a new source of money to create a new fund for specific purposes.
The rejection of Johnson’s plan last month is mainly due to controversy surrounding one of these new sources of revenue: the Community Safety surcharge, also known as the “corporate head tax.” This would have charged $21 per employee each month to companies with 100 or more full-time employees who work at least 50% of their time in Chicago.
City leaders estimated the tax would garner $100 million annually, which would establish a Community Safety Fund. The money in this fund would have been reserved for things like social services, health care and housing.
This comes back to some of the budget cuts we mentioned before. The Department of Family and Support Services — which is facing cuts — oversees many of these types of programs.
Because the finance committee voted down Johnson’s plan, that could scuttle the effort to generate $100 million for violence reduction and intervention programs, domestic and gender-based violence services, youth employment, victim support programs and trauma-informed training for various departments. About $62 million of the new Community Safety Fund was intended for next year’s DFSS budget.
As alders return to City Hall this week, the fate of the city’s revenue plan and subsequent funds for vital services remains unclear.
What you can do:
What do you think about the corporate head tax? How should the city generate more money for key services? Click here to find your ward and contact your alder.
Follow along with Chicago Documenters this #BudgetSzn🤑. We’re covering every budget meeting leading up to City Council finalizing the spending plan at the end of the year. Follow our work at docs.org, Twitter.com and Bluesky.
A version of this story was first published in the December 3, 2025 issue of the Newswire, an email newsletter that is your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what we can do to make our city great. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.
Have thoughts on what you'd like to see in this feature? Email Civic Editor Dawn Rhodes at dawn@citybureau.org.