Welcome to Newswire — your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic action and what action we can take to make our city great, featuring public meeting coverage by City Bureau’s Documenters.

Quote/Term of the Week

Government shutdown / noun

When a government does not pass key legislation to approve money for key operations, which would halt most or all government services.

Ex: If the Chicago City Council does not pass a balanced budget by Dec. 31, the city will enter a shutdown that will interrupt city services.

Shut down who?? Shut down what?

City Council and Mayor Brandon Johnson are in  a stalemate regarding the funding plan for the 2026 budget, opening the possibility for Chicago’s first government shutdown. 

Since Johnson’s revenue plan was rejected last month, he and an opposing faction of alders have gone back and forth presenting various plans to fund the $16.6 billion budget. 

The most prominent plan backed by 26 alders included removing the controversial corporate head tax in favor of increasing other taxes and fees that would fall onto Chicagoans more broadly. Those include raising the fee Chicagoans pay for garbage pickup and adding a tax on some liquor sales, as well as making other potential savings.

So far, neither side seems willing to budge. Johnson floated an alternate version of the corporate head tax this week that would apply to larger businesses, a key part of his plan to generate $100 million for social services that could face cuts next year. Alders are essentially daring the mayor to take his chances with an up-and-down vote. 

City Hall is no stranger to budget season conflict. See: 1984, during the heart of “Council Wars” between Mayor Harold Washington and the group of predominately 29 white alders led by Edward Vrdolyak and Ed Burke that consistently blocked the mayor’s proposals and appointments.

During the 1984 budget battle, Washington proposed two versions of the budget that the opposition voting bloc rejected. The mayor then vetoed the plan the council approved, and the bloc attempted to override that veto before the two sides reached a compromise. 

Johnson has suggested similarities between the two conflicts, a comparison that opposing alders vehemently rejected. 

If City Hall fails to meet its Dec. 31 budget deadline, city services will stop and more than 30,000 city workers will not be paid.

If it gets to the point where the city is certainly headed for a shutdown, City Council could pass a measure to collect  property taxes and fund certain services, such as police, fire, transit, and streets and sanitation,  Ald. Bill Conway (34th Ward) said.  

A #ChiBudgetSzn🤑 Breakdown: Garbage edition

Last week, we asked: What will the city’s revenue plan look like? So far, the most notable proposal  to counter Johnson’s corporate head tax is nearly doubling the city’s garbage collection fee. 

Homeowners would go from paying $9.50 per month in garbage collection fees to $18. Eligible senior citizens would go from paying $3 per month to $9.

The fee was set up in 2015 and has not been changed since. It is also significantly lower than other cities locally and nationally, including Evanston, Oak Park, Aurora and Joliet, as well as Phoenix and Los Angeles. A mayoral task force report, which also recommended increasing the fee, showed the median rate is around $30 a month. 

While alders have proposed doubling the fee, others have said increasing the fee by smaller amounts could still generate more revenue. 

The task force report maps out one scenario for a $12.50 fee to generate around $20 million in 2026, plus annual increases for the following four years. Previous projections evaluated increases to $12, $20 or $34 per month, according to the Sun-Times. 

Raising that fee has been divisive in previous budget talks. Opponents say it would disproportionately hurt low-income families, while supporters argue it's an underutilized revenue source because our current fee covers a small percentage of what garbage collection actually costs. Some of the figures vary, but the task force report states the city makes around $60 million from these fees; sanitation services  cost $320 million. Other figures show the fees cover between 25 and 40% of the total cost. 

Johnson has vowed to veto any revenue plan that includes an increase on garbage fees and other taxes that would impact working-class Chicagoans. 

City Council requires 26 votes to pass the budget and 34 votes to override a mayoral veto.

What you can do:

What do you think about increasing the garbage collection fee? 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 10, 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.