Chicago Politics

The Southwest Side Budget Town Hall 11.18.25

Description

The Southwest Side Budget Town Hall

Transcript

1:41 as part of the budget roundtables. Now, before we get started, I want to make sure we share some housekeeping items. At the end of the presentation, we're going to allow for questions with our panel. So if you have not already signed up to ask questions, you're going to have some time. We're going to have staff walking around with a clipboard and sign-up sheet. There we go. There's Sarah. She has a beautiful example right there. so you could flag Sarah down and she'll help you sign up

2:11 also if you need Spanish translation you could go out to the front and we have somebody that will be able to get you a headset si necesitan traducción en español hay alguien enfrente que les puede ayudar we also do have a Mandarin interpreter I cannot translate that but I have my Mandarin interpreter over there she's waving so if you also need Mandarin interpretation We have that available as well. Now, without further ado, I will pass it over to Alderwoman Julia Ramirez.

2:54 Hello, everyone. Good evening. It's two of us up here. I am nine months pregnant, so I'm happily up here with my baby. Pero muy buenas noches a todos que están aquí. Mayor Johnson, Jung Yoon, Annette Guzman, welcome to the southwest side of Chicago. Bienvenidos al suroeste. I love being from the southwest side. I was born and raised here. Our region hosts humble families with so many of our families holding decades-long history

3:28 and hardworking folks who are a huge part of our job sector. Those are the people that we are going to continue to protect. As a representative of Chicago and one of 50, I vow to work with my colleagues and this administration to protect Chicago's immigrant communities, the LGBTQ, the unhoused, returning residents, young people, and seniors. We want to keep and uphold the city services that we know and love. And most importantly, we need to keep the workers that provide those essential services.

4:03 I want to highlight a pivotal part of this budget that I support. This administration has chosen to engage our highest grossing businesses to help be a partner in our continued efforts to invest and keep families safe. A community safety fund can produce up to $100 million to increase funding for youth, employment programs, services for survivors of domestic violence, gender-based violence, mental health support, first responders, and one of the largest permanent community violence interventions programs of any city in the country.

4:41 That is what's on the line, and I do want to say just outright that I will not support a budget that doesn't involve the top 3% to invest in the city of Chicago. I'm excited to hear more about how we continue to invest and build the Chicago we all know to love, a budget that supports the southwest side. So thank you, Mayor Brandon Johnson, from the bottom of my heart,

5:11 for your continued alliance and support throughout these rough few months during Midway Blitz. So let's please give a warm round of applause to Mayor Brandon Johnson. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much to the Alderwoman, and I so appreciate your leadership. And we have to get this budget passed before you go into labor. So that's my incentive.

5:43 I see that not just your leadership, but your vision and conviction. Thank you so much for being such a great example of Chicago. I see we have a visiting alder here as well. Mike Rodriguez is in the house, you all. Can you give him a round of applause from the 22nd Ward? And, of course, to Principal Penuelas, thank you for your leadership in opening up the doors of Cary High School.

6:15 So it's great to be here on the southwest side of Chicago. My administration is committed to making sure that this budget proposal reflects the values of our city. And this 2026 budget protects working people. We have been presenting our budget in town halls all across Chicago since we released our budget. We've been to every section of the city, the northwest side, the north side, the south side, the west side. We are meeting with residents and stakeholders in every neighborhood to share the core message behind this budget proposal.

6:50 Supreme Court Justice Brandy said over a century ago, he said that we can either have a democracy or we can have wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. But we cannot have both. In this budget, we choose our democracy. Residents are hurting right now. ICE has terrorized our communities. The federal government has gutted fundamental service programs like SNAP and Medicaid while initiating the largest transfer of wealth from working class to the billionaire class in American history.

7:25 Rather than put more burden on residents by raising property taxes or garbage or grocery taxes, this is a crucial moment in our city when we must ask those amongst the greatest means to pay their fair share in taxes. My chief of policy, Jung Yoon, will highlight how we can balance this budget with cost-saving measures as well as progressive revenue streams via normal taxes and fees

7:55 that will impact our city's largest businesses that can readily afford to put more skin in the game. These businesses profit from the greatness of our city and the talent of our residents and therefore should be willing to lean in and ensure our city remains prosperous and dynamic. During this budget cycle, my administration is working to make a clear choice. We can either tax the rich or we can decimate services and tax the working class.

8:26 My administration is choosing to tax the rich. Critics will say that we are punishing job creators or scaring business away. But here's the reality. Number one, the progressive revenue streams we are proposing are affordable, particularly in a time when President Trump has given corporations huge tax breaks.

8:59 Through the community safety fund that we are proposing, for example, businesses can invest in our city's collective safety and secure our progress in building safer communities for the same price as buying their employees lunch once per month. Number two, study after study has disproved the claim that taxing large businesses harms job creation. In fact, the real job killer is crime, violence, trauma,

9:31 and the symptoms of systemic racism in our communities. It is pro-business, therefore, to ask businesses to lean in and contribute to our path in building safer and more affordable communities where residents and young people can thrive and save students, fully resourced schools. and communities that are abundant with housing, health care, and services and job opportunities. Our city is making real progress that must secure with sustained investments in people and in communities.

10:07 Chicago just experienced the safest summer since 1965. We broke and set our hotels and airport records with how many visitors are coming here. Now is not the time to divest in people. This is the time for those with means, who love our city, to step up and help protect working people.

10:38 This is especially true as we confront President Trump's war on Chicago. In this budget, we sustain our Protecting Chicago initiative to fight back against the federal government, Whether that means protecting residents' constitutional rights against ICE agents or protecting working-class families from draconian federal budget cuts. In this budget, we commit $1 million to the Department of Law to ensure we can litigate and fight back against Trump's unconstitutional attacks on our residents.

11:13 I want to take this moment to recognize and applaud the leaders and residents of the southwest side who have been standing up to ICE and Trump in this moment. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your love of our people. In fact, our rapid response teams, local alders and their staff have been vigilant in their efforts to monitor ICE activity and respond when there are kidnappings and disappearings.

11:51 even taking arrests themselves. I want to thank the Southwest Rapid Response Team and their affiliate groups for doing the work on the ground to keep our neighbors safe. As you continue to patrol as well as use whistles and alerting neighbors when we see these acts of terror administered against our community, we will continue to make sure that you have the support, whether it's in mutual aid or any other resource that we can deploy as a city to keep all of our neighbors safe.

12:27 And Alderwoman Ramirez, I was deeply moved that you stepped up for our community on a national stage by providing testimony before the U.S. District Judge for the evil actions that you witnessed in October in your ward. So thank you for being strong, sister, and we are with you. Whether it's Alderperson Sigcho Lopez or even Alderman Mike Rodriguez, You and your community continue to stand up and fight back when your chief of staff was taken.

13:02 You are the epitome of an alderperson who cares deeply for those who serve not only your office, but those who serve your community. Thank you, Alderman Rodriguez. We also thank Alderperson Gutierrez, who also stood up and spoke immediately after Trump claimed he was going after the worst of the worst. And it turns out that the vast majority of the people that have been detained have not been the worst of the worst. They are hard-working people who love this city.

13:34 And right on cue, thank you, Alderwoman Gutierrez, for your leadership. Now in closing, the city owes a great deal of debt to all of your labor, your courage, and your service. You all have my commitment that my administration will remain steadfast in our opposition to President Trump and the harm that he dares to inflict on our communities. Before I close, I want to acknowledge and make clear one more thing

14:07 as it relates to my budget and this proposal. There are so many of you, particularly in the Latine neighborhoods on the southwest side, who are seeing record property tax increases. Okay, Latino, I got you then. Latine, Latino, I'll be respectful and I will refer to the community as Latino, if that's what you want. You're welcome. And so since your community wants me to respect you, And to refer to you as Latino, I want you to know that I also respect your community as you continue to deal with an unprecedented rise in property taxes.

14:42 And that's why in this budget, I'm not raising your property taxes. That's how much I respect and care for your community. Because there are families across the southwest side who've experienced a 100% property tax bill increase. And there are those who are trying to contort my position as a leader in this city while I'm doing everything in my power to not just respect and protect the Latino community from Donald Trump. I'm going to protect the Latino community from the cuts that are coming from Donald Trump,

15:16 ensuring that the ultra rich who made sure that he became president to terrorize the Latino community pay their fair share in taxes. That's how much I love you and respect you. And with that, Jung Yoon. Good evening. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. I'm happy to share more about the protecting Chicago budget and give a little more detail to what Mayor Johnson just laid out.

15:50 So as many of us know, Trump just enacted the largest upward transfer of wealth in American history. And so to really contextualize that and let that sink in, what that means is that 1% of this country will receive a trillion dollars of tax cuts. Half of that $500 billion is just going to 200,000 households. That's about the size of the southwest side. Meanwhile, he's raising taxes on the bottom 20%.

16:21 Your average person is going to see an additional $1,650 of increased costs from taxes, and he's also cutting taxes on corporations from 35% to 21%. And the way he's going to pay for this, these massive upward transfer of wealth, is by cutting services. A trillion dollars cut from Medicaid. $186 billion cut from food assistance.

16:51 $2 billion withheld from CTA for the red line extension. $2 billion cut from homelessness services. Almost $2 billion expiring from CPS and another $18 million withheld. Thank you. Cuts to our public safety infrastructure, police, fire, and OEMC. $100 million cut from community violence intervention. $436 million cut from ATF.

17:24 $51 million cut from police, fire, and OEMC, and $16 million withheld from a Homeland Security grant. This does not make us safer. But this mayor is putting forward a balanced budget with progressive revenues to not continue to put more and more burden on the bottom 20% of workers who are seeing an additional Trump tax increases. And so there is no property tax increase, and there is no grocery tax. What we are doing is instituting a community safety surcharge, and I'll share a little more here in a moment.

18:00 We're increasing taxes on big tech through our personal property lease tax. We're increasing the boat mooring tax or the yacht tax. We're instituting the nation's first municipal social media amusement tax, the smart tax, to fund mental health. We're increasing the fees on vacant buildings that are owned by banks. We're expanding the congestion surcharge zone to the most congested census tracts in the city,

18:33 and we're increasing the online sports wagering tax to bring both that and in-person sports betting to make sure we're capturing the vast majority of the activity there. And again, as Claudia mentioned at the beginning, anything with a blue asterisk is directly from the feedback we got from the summer budget engagement roundtables we had across the city, as well as our budget survey. And so this budget is in direct response to the feedback we heard. So let's talk about the community safety surcharge.

19:06 We are asking the largest companies with more than 100 full-time employees to contribute $21 a month per employee. This exempts 97% of businesses and nonprofits. So we are asking, again, just less than 3% of the businesses in our city to chip in a little more. pay their fair share, and make sure we are able to continue to invest in the number one thing they ask us for, safety. This is less than 0.36 percent of a typical payroll. With this,

19:42 we're going to continue to invest in community safety with the Community Safety Fund and create one of the largest community violence intervention investments in the country. We're going to continue to fund over 30,000 young people in our summer jobs and year-round jobs programs. We're going to continue to invest in violence reduction, youth diversion, and youth activation programs. We're going to continue to invest in services and supports for survivors of gender-based

20:13 and domestic violence. We're going to continue to invest in mental health programs and supports for our first responders and our police officers. And we're going to create a community business grant program to support community businesses that are hiring from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and doing things like supporting access to nutritious food so that we can make sure that those businesses continue to get the support that they need to thrive. Let's talk about the smart

20:45 tax. This is a 50 cents per month per user on social media companies over 100,000 users. By taxing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, we're going to be able to raise $31 million to invest in mental health. We're going to be able to reopen more of the shuttered mental health clinics and expand our care program so that when you call 911 in a mental health crisis, a trained clinician can come support you rather than diverting resources from our

21:20 police department. We cannot balance a budget without making significant savings. And so ahead of this budget, the mayor instructed all departments to dig deep and find ways to cut costs, but to do it in a way that minimizes and prevents disruption of services to our residents. So the strategies we are using include vacancy reductions from unfilled positions,

21:56 a year-long hiring freeze, but not just to not hire, but to really take the time to be able to analyze how our departments are structured and how we can be more efficient. And we're making critical strategic upgrades to technology to achieve cost savings in that way. All of these strategies together, many of which were recommended through our year-long study with EY, which is public, will result in $200 million of savings next year. And a lot of those investments in savings take time. It takes time to shift how you do things and how you procure things

22:31 and how you structure your departments. So we're going to see $600 million of savings over the next 10 years with these strategies. We're going to modernize the Chicago Police department by right sizing and then capping over time so that any increase to or if the department needs to go past that over time they need to go back to City Council to get approval for additional appropriations. We're entering our second phase of our civilianization program to save more than seventy eight million dollars over the next ten years and most importantly

23:05 get our officers back onto the streets so they can continue to serve our communities, and instituting an early warning system so that supervisors will better be able to be alerted and understand when there are at-risk behaviors so that those can be addressed, so we can build trust, build accountability, reduce misconduct, and lower litigation costs. And finally, we're going to continue to invest in the programs we know matter.

23:35 So we're going to continue to protect mental health care for Chicagoans. with $3.1 million in our Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement Program, our CARE program. And I want to give a big shout-out to BPNC, who is in the house, who has been leading that work. And so this program has been funded through the one-time ARPA dollars, and so what we're doing is moving this to our corporate fund to demonstrate and show that we are committed to protecting this program in the long term.

24:10 Starting in 2027 and beyond, this will be funded by the Social Media Smart Tax. We're going to continue to protect our environment and our residents, raising money by combating congestion. Making a modest investment by rebuilding our Department of the Environment and uniting all the regulatory and policy people that got scattered to different departments. We're all bringing that back under one roof so that we are better at coordinating. And then a $400 million investment in stormwater infrastructure and flood mitigation, because we know with climate change, flooding is going to continue to be a major problem, especially in places like the southwest side.

24:55 We're going to continue to protect Chicagoans under attack. The mayor talked a lot about the EOs and work that he is leading to make sure that we are deploying every resource we have available at this city to protect Chicagoans and protect our immigrant communities from Trump's attacks. We're going to continue to hold the gun industry accountable and other industries that are taking advantage of our communities through affirmative litigation to hold them accountable for their reckless practices. And we're going to continue to challenge Trump in his attempts to dismantle our safety nets and withhold funds rightfully due to us.

25:33 And despite federal cuts, we're continuing to make investments in our rapid rehousing program so that we can continue to support and get thousands of Chicagoans transitioned quickly from shelter or homelessness into long-term stable housing. We're going to allocate $7.5 million from our cannabis revenue to support our Office of Reentry and our five reentry centers around the communities,

26:04 our reentry job training programs, and violence reduction programming. We're going to continue to protect our investments in our 21 city senior centers, again, making sure that our seniors are taken care of in the midst, in the face of drastic cuts to food assistance and Medicaid. We are going to fully fund the Chicago Public Library book budget with $10 million in collections.

26:39 And we're going to continue to protect our young people, $50 million to one-summer Chicago. This last summer, we were able to hire 31,119 young people. We're investing $3.3 million in My Shy, My Future, which has connected more than 50,000 young people to 45,000 out-of-school activities, and $7 million in early childhood, and this is specifically to support our teachers

27:13 and make sure that they get adequate pay and raises so that there's not a constant revolving door and we can keep classrooms open and make sure families have child care options in their neighborhoods. Finally, we're going to continue to protect our homes, our neighborhood, and our economy. We're moving aggressively to redevelop our vacant lots, to protect affordable housing with $168 million investment in senior housing renovations,

27:45 our home repair program that assists income-eligible homeowners, our homegrown program helps moderate-income families purchase one- to two-unit homes so that they can build wealth. Our Missing Middle initiative, again, makes sure that we are developing these vacant lots and providing assistance for home ownership opportunities. Our Green Social Housing Program will build permanently affordable mixed-income rental housing across the city, and we're going to continue to fight against gentrification and displacement with things like our Jackson Park Housing Pilot.

28:19 And finally, we're going to continue to support our neighborhood businesses with our Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, community development grants, and reforms that simplify permits and reduce delays. And so with that, I thank you for your time, and we are going to open it up for questions. I think maybe Claudia will come back up here to moderate. Thank you so much.

28:52 All right, so it's time for questions. So we're going to do this in the order in which people signed up. So I'm going to call five names at a time, and we're going to come up to the mic. and Sarah here she's going to control the line so just some rules we're going to be respectful of the people who are talking we're going to be respectful of how long we are taking to ask the questions so we want you know there's a lot of people who signed up So we want to make sure that we get to as many as possible. We hopefully want everybody to be

29:25 able to ask their question, so we want to get to the question. And in order to make sure that everybody asks their question, there's going to be no follow-up, so make sure you ask your question as thoroughly as possible. And yeah, so I'm going to call the first five. So we got Mark Heller, Lissette Garcia, Katrina Walker, Angie Lopez, and Kyle Perez. All right. The five of you could get, come on. All right.

29:56 Good evening. Good evening. My name is Mark Heller. Parks are one of the pillars of community. They are so important that more than a dozen Chicago neighborhoods are named after their legacy park. Parks create community. Crossing economic strata, poor people, wealthy people share the same space, sometimes share the same activities, and multiple generations from children to seniors share their parks.

30:33 They are gathering centers. They are important. In 1998, the city created what's called the open space impact fee. When a new residential dwelling unit is created in Chicago, a fee, part of the building permit fee based on four progressive size classes of dwelling units from small one bedroom to uber size condo or single family home is levied. That 1998 policy was flawed from the beginning for three reasons. It was never indexed to inflation, and for 26 years, that fee remained unchanged while inflation went up and up and up and up.

31:22 It was an impact fee, which has legal restrictions instead of it just being a fee, like a building permit fee. So it's time for the city to update this flawed policy. Index the fee to the relative property valuation where the new DUs are being created. And guess what? More than 90 percent of those new dwelling units are being created in the city's most expensive neighborhoods where developers obviously can make the most profit.

31:54 A citywide flat fee is not fair. We don't pay flat property taxes. They are indexed by government agency, the assessor, based on market valuations to the relative valuation in the neighborhood where the new development is occurring. So it's important that this change be made. There's a history to this. Ms. Guzman, I had a chance to chat with you. Arnold Randall, who dates back quite a while and recently retired as head of the Forest Preserve, he worked in city government as commissioner of planning and development.

32:32 He was head of planning at the Park District when Logan Boulevard Skate Park was approved and built. I proposed that skate park, and it was funded by open space fees, which is how I learned about this program. So there's a lot of years of advocacy and support by people, including, in 2012, Chicago Park District Board President Brian Troubert of the Troubert Pritzker Foundation today. We have to get to the next person, Mark, so if you can.

33:04 Sure, supported this. So my question or slash comment is $10 million, that's 5,000 dwelling units times 2,000 more per dwelling unit in the city's most expensive neighborhoods. That's $10 million per year, more money for parks each and every year into the future. Please make this happen. Thank you. Thank you.

33:41 Hello, my name is Lizette, and I'm a community member of the 15th Ward. I see our 15th Ward alder is not here, so I can see the support from that ward. For the last two months, I've been part of a volunteer group that patrols an area where day laborers look for work. As many folks already know, the laborers gather at stores prior to this immigration enforcement. The laborers have dealt with other issues such as wage theft, discrimination, retaliation, scrutiny by people passing by, by CPD, security.

34:20 Now, with the continuous targeting of the day laborers, we've only seen that these issues have only intensified and have been inflicted with a more direct form of violence that has trickling impacts to day laborers and their families. What we are demanding for is a partial solution and a step in the right direction, a space for day laborers and community members where they can seek work more securely, in short, a safe hiring site. Shelter space for workers and employers to connect.

34:52 A place with a site coordinator to ensure their pay compliance to city labor laws. Access to workforce resources and effort to increase public safety. My question to you is, can you protect these individuals who give back to your community while they're looking for work? Thank you. Thank you for that question. Thank you for that question. I'm going to pass it over to our policy director. You know, I'm fully aware of the challenges that our undocumented community is experiencing, especially because we know the Trump administration has targeted work sites as well as courthouses to go after our immigrant community.

35:34 Jung, you want to speak to some of the things that we're looking at? Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the question. We are in conversations with groups advocating for this. And so, you know, we are committed to continuing those conversations. Our number one priority is to make sure we are not inadvertently putting people at risk. And so really working to understand the policy implications there while, again, supporting and protecting our day labor community. Thank you.

36:06 My name is Katrina Walker. I'm a resident of the 20th Ward. I've lived in Chicago all my life. And last year I had to revoke my registration to vote. I don't like what's going on, and I will probably never vote in this state again. My intention is to leave, but I'm here on the betting. Don't Pritzker already have a tax on betting? So why would y'all institute another one? Thank you for that question, and at least I see that you're at least still committed to the Chicago Bears.

36:41 It's a very nice T-shirt in there. Thank you. We're hoping that you actually will stay. So here's the challenge that we do have as local municipalities. Too often the state of Illinois institutes a tax and they cut Chicago and other municipalities out from the ability to capture revenue. And what it does is it places a stronger burden on municipalities to be able to generate revenue outside of property taxes. I'll be the first to admit, I don't want to have to put a tax on top of another tax. And we've been in

37:16 conversations with the wage betting entity or industry, something that my budget director, my finance director as well, we've been working hard to engage the state of Illinois around a host of corporate revenue streams that once upon a time local municipalities captured more revenue from those streams. Now the state of Illinois is gobbling up more of it to take care of its own

37:47 budget. So it's a real dog eat dog world. It is not ideal. What our hope is that as we continue to advocate at the state level for progressive revenue, some of these other taxes we can figure out how to sunset or walk back. But right now, there's very few options that we have as local municipalities to generate revenue to make sure that our parks, our schools, and city services are properly delivered. But you're not wrong. There is a tax on top of a tax, and it has placed

38:18 local municipalities in very difficult positions because the state of Illinois, quite frankly, has cut out the revenue opportunities for local municipalities. So it's not just a challenge in Chicago, you're going to have this experience no matter where you go in Illinois until we change state law. But thank you for that, and go Bears. Thank you, Katrina. Hi, everyone. My name is Angie, and I'm a community member of the 12th Ward. I'm here because I'm a concerned community member who was fundamentally shaken up by the recent violent immigration enforcement efforts our community has

38:50 seen these past few months. While I was shopping at a Home Depot, I witnessed the deliberate targeting of brown people simply looking for work, simply looking for work. This site shook me to my core. These are neighbors who beautify our communities, who build our communities, and who live in our communities. On top of that, these people already face daily discrimination and wage theft because they are outside of the formal lines of occupation. Currently, the city of Chicago is facing multiple lawsuits related to the violencing of those date laborers.

39:24 And with the coming of xenophobia into the cultural zeitgeist, that is the American zeitgeist, this will only get worse, right? And with word that ICE immigration officials are coming back with a vengeance on March, that puts me in a very worried situation as a member of the 12th Ward. So my question to you is, will you codify that promise to keep our most vulnerable community members safe from racially motivated detentions by ensuring our Chicago budget makes intentional space for a safe hiring site

39:57 to ensure the workforce development of a population that has largely been ignored? Thank you for that question. I know it came up from another community member. The safety of our residents is my top priority. And I've used every single tool that's available to me to ensure the protection of all of Chicago, particularly the immigrant community at this moment that is under a great deal of terror. So I think there's three things. So one, executive orders. That's a way in which my administration has worked to protect residents, whether it's the First Amendment, knowing your rights and making sure that our public spaces are not used by federal agents to set up sting operations or kidnappings.

40:44 Right. What Jung was alluding to, as we look through a process of how we can have safe sites for people who want to work, because that's the vast majority of my experience with immigrant population is that they want to work here and we don't want to draw unattended attention to certain areas that would be difficult for us to maintain. So there are some, I would say governmental or constitutional limitations to what we can do, even though this administration continues to break the Constitution.

41:24 But I assure you, I give you my word, every single tool that's available to me and any resource that we can dedicate to ensure maximum safety and security of our immigrant community, I'm going to use it. That's why in this budget, we increase to be able to continue to draw attention to the fallacy and the unconstitutional behavior of this administration by taking this administration to to to the to the courts. In fact, every single lawsuit that we have rendered against the Trump administration, we've won and every single lawsuit filed against us.

42:01 We've beaten it. Thank you. Thank you, taller. I'm sorry. Hi, Mayor Johnson. My name is Kyle, and I am a community member of the 25th Ward. I'm here mainly concerned tonight because of the proposed property tax hikes.

42:31 I live in an already rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, and how I see the property tax hikes is Chicagoans bearing the brunt of the city's bill. In response to that, I wanted to reiterate my support for the corporate tax hikes, for the large business tax hikes. Um, I think that for too long, uh, the city's municipal government has been working in the interest of corporations or large businesses. We've seen that through our parking meter revenue being sold off. We've seen that through our schools being shut down in favor of private

43:05 equity owned charter schools. And I guess my question is, um, what is the mayor's office going to do to ensure that this corporate tax hike or the large business tax hike gets passed? and what can we do to ensure that it gets passed so that we don't have to face the brunt of the bill? Yeah, thank you for that question. I mean, I think the first thing, just know that any budget that is brought before me as a proposal, and in the event that it does pass and it includes a property tax increase, I'm going to veto that budget.

43:38 I'm going to veto it. We're not going to allow the budget to be balanced off the backs of working-class people. So look, I don't I've never met anyone who wants to pay taxes like no one has come up to me when I was running and saying, look, Mayor, when you become mayor of the city of Chicago, here's how I want you to tax me. No one no one says that. What they do say, though, is that they want us to invest in mental health care, education, housing, transportation, good paying jobs. Right. That's what they want. And it takes revenue to do that. The question is, where are we going to draw that revenue from?

44:14 And so when you ask how you can be helpful, continue to educate the community. This budget is going to pass. It's going to be balanced one way or the other. It's either going to be balanced off of grocery, garbage, and property, or it's going to be balanced off of these large corporations who are enjoying their time as corporate entities because they have the greatest defender in chief of them all, and that's Donald Trump. We're either going to protect working people or you're going to protect the interest of corporations.

44:48 My budget is going to protect working people. And that's all of Chicago. Black, brown, white, Asian, young, old, southwest, west side. No matter where you are, my budget is going to protect the working class of this city. All right. I'm going to call the next five. And just a reminder to get to the question quickly. Dr. Mimi, I'm sorry, I'm going to butcher your last name. Dr. Mimi Guida, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Mimi.

45:22 And Xochitl Esparza, Claudia Zuno, I think. I can't see the last name. Matt Joint, and Marisela Bautista. I'm sorry, Mimi. It's okay. Hi. It's Huiracocha, for anyone who cares. Hi, this is more of a comment than a question, so hopefully it makes it go by faster. Yes, timer is fine. All right. Hi, everyone. My name is Dr. Mimi Wiracocha. I'm a public health nurse.

45:53 I'm also a former NICU nurse and certified asthma educator. I am the daughter of immigrants, part of the rapid response team in Pilsen, and most proudly a born and raised Chicagoan through and through. And I just wanted to say that I've spent my whole career caring for the most vulnerable patients and communities and families. I was actually just thinking this week how the first IV that I ever put in a patient was in a 15-ounce baby. So if you can think about, like, less than a pound of steak, you know, like, that's how little this baby was. So I've spent my whole life really caring for these vulnerable families.

46:25 And, you know, I see that health is shaped not only by the medical care that they receive, but also by the environment and the systems that are built around them. And that's why I am actually really here in support of this progressive budget proposal that the mayor office is proposing. And I really want to thank you for that, because as a nurse and as a public health professional, I have seen firsthand the disproportionate burden that is carried by families on the southwest side, especially when it comes to things like asthma, environmental pollution. I live kitty corner from well, I live right next to a high school in kitty corner from a metal shredder,

47:00 which is, you know, not really good for the students. Right. And environmental injustices to us is not just a phrase, it's not just a concept. It's something that we feel every day when we go to the hospital, when people have to miss schools because kids can't breathe. So the thing is that these inequities don't happen by accident, but rather they are the result of longstanding policy choices and chronic underinvestments in our neighborhoods. So that's why budgets matter. Budgets are moral documents that show us not just what we want to invest in, but who we want to invest in. So I'm really glad that we're not centering the ultra-rich, but rather the single mother like mine who has to work multiple jobs to make ends meet to make rent and have food for their kids.

47:39 So what you're proposing here, I see affordable housing, youth programs, environmental protections. These are the investments that we need in order to prevent illness before it happens rather than spending more money trying to fix and treat them. So thank you so much. That's the root of public health, and I see that in this budget. Thanks. Well, thank you so much. Seriously, on behalf of all of those of us who suffer from asthma, I grew up with it. I still carry my inhaler. And, you know, it's why we restore the Department of the Environment.

48:11 We're moving into phase two just for that very issue, particularly in brown and black communities where asthma is far greater propensity. So absolutely, those of us who just wish to breathe clean, healthy air, that is a fight that's worth fighting for and that's worth investing in. So thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Xochitl Esparza. I'm a longtime immigrant and tenant rights advocate. And I want to thank you for proposing this budget first that puts our families and Chicago first.

48:43 This budget protects us against Trump's federal cuts. and now more than ever, we need to protect our communities and make sure we're not seeing any cuts to our education, mental health services, our libraries, and other critical services that our families depend on. As a longtime Pilsen resident, my family has been burdened with the increase of property taxes, so I'm glad to see there is no proposal for increasing. property taxes as well because it is time that the rich and wealthy corporations paid their fair share in taxes. I support the budget proposed today and I know my alderman

49:18 Brian C. Lopez is here to support on it but I do ask that the rest of the Southside aldermen change their minds specifically all the person Nicole Lee, Raymond Lopez and joining your fellow councilman members and voting yes on the proposed budget and supporting the corporate tax. By voting note, in this budget, you are turning your back on the working class, the families, and immigrant communities you all sworn to serve. Thank you. Tall guy. Hi, my name is Matt Joint. I'm also a

49:51 longtime resident of the 25th Ward. I'm a member of the Rapid Response Team in Pilsen and want to basically second what Sochi just said. We absolutely need this budget to pass for our community. I just received my property tax increases and it is intense even apart from the city you know adding anything to it it's really a lot and it's a lot for my family it's a lot for the undocumented families that we support in our household you know and I'm thinking about next year how can we do it

50:22 how are we going to make it and I'm really grateful to you all for supporting us as working families that are in support of each other in our community and we are united it's something that makes the 25th Ward a very special place. And I'm really grateful to you all for this budget. And I just hope the other alders that can hear me right now who are on the southwest side can also hear this and know that it is very important that we pass this budget as it stands.

50:56 Hi, Mayor. Claudia Zuno here, second generation small business owner. I live in Brighton Park 12th Ward for over 25 years. I love my city. My parents immigrated here in 1969. I do not own a large corporation that has over 100 employees, but we are a small business. As a small business owner, we do feel the burden of payroll tax, corporate tax, our individual

51:26 income tax. We get taxed on the money we make, and we get taxed on the money we spend. The way things happen, and we've seen it with the tariffs with Trump, we've seen it with the tariffs with Trump, is they said that we, the consumers, would not pay the tariffs, and ultimately we are. We are, we're seeing the inflation right now. So this corporate head tax that you're implementing or wanting to implement, what makes you think that corporations are not going to find that loophole. So my fear is it's $21 per person within that company.

52:03 What is it not to say that they're going to downsize, they're going to eliminate jobs, they're going to not give raises? The burden is going to go to the employees, which happens to be people who live in our neighborhood, the working class people. At the end of the day, these corporations are going to find a way for their employees to pay the ultimate price of this $21 per head. So that's my question to you. How can we close that loophole? I don't think implementing another tax is the way to go. I think we need to look within the system, within

52:34 City of Chicago, and see how we can save money. Another thing is small businesses along Kedzie and Archer right now are feeling the burden of these permanent bike lanes. A lot of these small businesses were not informed about these bike lanes, so therefore there's not enough traffic going into these small businesses. I understand about bike lanes and having safety for bikers, but it's a quarter of the BNSF rail yard. Trailers and bikes don't mix together. And right now our community is really suffering with congestion and traffic and whatnot. Thank you for the question.

53:12 You know, I have a question. How many of you received your property tax bills in the last week or so? You received that? How many of you had an increase in your property tax? Okay, by a show of hands, how many of you want to pay more in property taxes? Okay. By a show of hands, how many of you want us to cut services and lay people off? Okay. Okay. All right. All right. So we're dealing with a couple of choices here in the city budget.

53:45 You find savings, as many as you possibly can, which we have, and I'll pass it to our budget director, and she can talk explicitly about the savings that we've made, because I'm going to be responsible with the taxpayer dollars. It's important, because we've seen what happens when administrations are not responsible. It has created this situation that we're in. Eighty percent of property taxes go towards paying our pensions. Eighty percent. And that's just because of negligence over the years.

54:19 Right. So that's something that we have to course correct. Services are important to the lifeblood of the city of Chicago. The vast majority of our services, particularly our corporate fund, is centered around our public safety. Right. And so if we want services. Those services are delivered by people in order for us to make sure that these services are delivered, it's why we're not laying people off in an economy in which, as you've described, has been harmful and detrimental to everyday working people.

54:53 So that is the conundrum. And by the way, the vast majority of Trump's tariffs have been deemed illegal. Right. But we're still feeling some of the negative impact on that. And so I'm going to pass it to our budget director and she can talk more explicitly about some of those savings. And then your question around how do we ensure we protect the corporate loopholes? Because that's really the issue that we've had in Springfield where corporations ask for a tax break or a cut and they use the loopholes to evade paying those taxes.

55:24 And then after the incentive has gone away, they pack up and leave and then they leave us stranded. That's why I put forth the $1.25 billion bond investment, which is the largest bond investment for economic development and housing. $625 million goes to small businesses like the one you're describing. Annette, you want to talk a little bit more about the savings? Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Hi, everyone. Annette Guzman, Budget Director for the city. Two things that I'll talk about. First, the savings.

55:54 So, you know, there's been a lot of reporting about a report that we put out in October around the savings potential in our city's operations. There was a lot of work that went into it, and what we learned is that there are opportunities for us to become more efficient as a city. And this budget not only implements a number of those options, but it also – we asked, as John said, we asked our departments, while we're implementing the options to get to savings, what more can you do on top of that in order to reduce the cost of the budget but not impact service provision?

56:40 Because as the mayor said, no one is asking us to not give services. In fact, if you listen to budget hearings, they're asking us to do more. And so the reality of what you see if you're in our departments is our departments are doing more with much less. And that's a real strain on the provision of services. The second thing I'll say, because you asked about how can we guarantee that businesses won't just pass down through a loophole and, you know, cut jobs or move or things like that.

57:14 Well, the great thing is, is tax has been in place before. So we have data that shows us what corporations will do. And the data does not bear out that we have more jobs when this tax is not in place or that people are losing their jobs because this tax is in place. And so there's there are a lot of things that corporations will do to instill fear about what they will do to, you know, evade attacks. And they're doing that across the country. You have, you know, corporations saying they're going to pull out of New York.

57:46 They're not. They need our labor. They need our labor in order to do their jobs. And so I want us to be really clear when you hear things like that to look at the data. The data doesn't support that these corporations are going to leave. It doesn't support that somehow the city got better when the tax went away. In fact, the opposite happened. Your property taxes went up when this tax went away in 2014. So it was a complete shift from corporations paying for government services to everyday people through property taxes, having to make up for that loss.

58:25 So those two things, we have over $200 million of savings in this budget. And this is the third year in a row that we have cut the cost of services or cut the cost of government in our budget every single year. because we know that we just can't balance our budgets after decades of negligence of how budgets in the city of Chicago have been constructed. We can't just raise revenue to offset that. We've got to also look at how are we providing those services? How can we cut the costs of government to everyday Chicagoans?

58:59 So I would just bear those two things in mind. We can't have follow-ups, but we did cut costs. And there's the data does not bear out that corporations will pass anything off to employee employees or that they're going to be leaving. Thank you, Annette. Can I get this? Oh, OK. Thank you. Just to add a little more. Thank you. You know, this mayor supports small businesses like yourself. That is why we are exempting 97 percent of businesses in this city.

59:34 When this tax was first instituted, it applied to any business with 15 or more employees, and they still didn't leave. Then that was eventually raised to 50, and they still didn't leave. But by exempting businesses with fewer than 100, we are exempting 97% of businesses. Small businesses are so vital to our city and to our economy. We have one of the most diverse economies in the country, and we plan to keep it that way. It is not good for our economy for wealth to be concentrated and jobs to be concentrated in a handful of companies, and that is what we're seeing.

1:00:14 We're seeing not just a massive transfer of wealth through taxes and Trump, but through shareholders and the ever-growing need for profit for those shareholders, not for wages. Wages have stagnated since the 70s. CEO wealth has skyrocketed. And so as we see wealth inequality, the stratification, we see the reduction of safety. We see people becoming very desperate. And so we're not okay

1:00:47 with that status quo. That is why this mayor has put every investment possible towards It's addressing the root cause of violence, which is poverty, housing insecurity, food insecurity. And I just want to name, right, when Trump announced he was pausing SNAP, you know who first came to us? It was the retailers. They were scared. And it's like, oh, yeah, you also agree that we should be investing in people to make our community safe.

1:01:18 And so that is why we are doing this, to continue on the great trend of having the safest summer since 1965. That is what directly supports small businesses and big businesses, because consumer behavior is impacted by safety and the threat of violence. And that is why we are also proposing an $18 million grant program for community businesses like yours and like others in this room to support them so we can make sure that there are grocery stores and food deserts and people have access to good jobs.

1:01:53 So thank you. That's all. Hello, my name is Marisela Bautista, and I am here today to urge you to strengthen Chicago's mental health infrastructure through real and immediate investment in the CARE program and in our public mental health centers. So we have had great wins with the CARE program, but it's not enough. Right now, CARE operates from only 10 to 4.30 p.m., but mental health crises don't happen on a schedule.

1:02:23 Families need support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Last year, Chicago saw 54,000 mental health-related calls go through 911. However, CARE only received around 15 calls per month. That gap is not because people don't need help. It's because our programs are under-resourced, under-marketed, and unavailable when people actually need them. We need a real marketing plan, as too many people still don't know that these services are free and accessible, regardless of insurance, income, or immigration status.

1:02:54 So my question is, how will the city ensure that care in our public mental health centers become accessible and visible to the communities who currently don't know that these exist? Thank you for that question, and thank you for your advocacy. One of the most difficult parts about the job is when people need something that the city can deliver, but they just don't know that it exists. It's hard. That's why this smart tax is so important, because we need a dedicated revenue stream to ensure that mental and behavior health care services will be funded regardless of who's the mayor.

1:03:34 That's the issue that we have. And so by securing this revenue stream, we do just that. We ensure that if someone wants to undermine mental health care services, they're now going to have to go before city council to do that. I'm the first mayor in the history of this city to not only secure or work to secure a dedicated revenue stream. I'm the first mayor since Mayor Harold Washington to actually invest in public mental health because it's important to me.

1:04:08 I had an older brother who had untreated untreated trauma and he died addicted and unhoused. We'll gather in a couple of days. We'll remember Leon. And I'm confident if those services were available, he would be enjoying his life as a grandpa. Right. And so this dedicated revenue stream is also in all of our budgets and our budget director could tell you, we ensure that there is public service announcements so that more people know that it's available. You know, when we reopened the Roseland Mental Health Clinic, do you know there were alders who said don't reopen it because no one's going to use it?

1:04:46 That's what they said. And so last summer, 2024, August, was about 5,600 appointments. This August, almost 12,000 appointments at the Rosalind Mental Health Clinic, right? So you're spot on, and I appreciate, like, really the push. I'll be the first to tell you that we have to do more. That's why we're going to actually tax the entities that in many regards are causing the mental health epidemic that we are experiencing right now. These apps have been proven to be addictive.

1:05:18 They cause a great deal of anxiety and they continue to exacerbate what already is a very vulnerable population. So my commitment is in this budget with this dedicated revenue stream. And again, you have my word. As long as I'm mayor of the city of Chicago, we're gonna do more to expand and extend and make it accessible and people to know that mental health services are available to every single resident in this city who needs it. Thank you, sister.

1:05:49 All right. The mayor said we could do two more, so I'm going to call the next two names so that we all can so we can get to dinner, but we have to be but we have to be really, really quick. All right. So the next two are Patrick Bronson and Joanna Cabrera. And that's our last two of the night. As they're coming up, the one thing I wanted to just add to what the mayor was just saying about the dedicated revenue source, what that means is it actually goes to a completely different fund. In the ordinance establishing that revenue, it establishes the fund and literally restricts how the money going in that fund can be used.

1:06:29 And so when he talks about protecting that, it actually is called the Protecting Care Fund. So literally, if anybody wants to look at the budget book, it literally says Protecting Care. So if any future mayor tries to redirect those dollars, they can't unless they get 26 alders to agree with that mayor to change an ordinance language. So that's how we protect care. We make it ironclad and we make anyone else in the future who wants to change it go before city council to change it.

1:07:01 Hi, I'm Patrick Brosnan. I just wanted to say that there's so much to be proud about in this proposal. Violence prevention programs, investing in My Shine My Future, in youth jobs. These are the things that keep our community safe, and this is what our communities need. Mayor Johnson spoke about President Trump's tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy, ultra-rich. And I just want to say that in 2025, we broke a record.

1:07:33 Our country broke a record. And it was for the number of corporations that purchased yachts and private jets. And so any budget that is that is going squarely at the ultra rich to pay for these crucial services is one that I think we should all support. I also want to say that the head tax used to be called the head tax. You know, this was here for 60 years and our city became one of the wealthiest, most important cities in this country, if not the best city in this country.

1:08:09 And, you know, it got and what I think what Jung said is exactly right, that when the tax went away, all our property taxes increased. And so bringing this back and doing it in the way that you're doing it, where you're you're ensuring that only, you know, the richest, most wealthy corporations, they're either going to spend it on a yacht or they're going to pay for our programs in our community. And I think they should be paying for our programs in our community. So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.

1:08:46 Hello, everyone. My name is Giovanna Cabrera, member of the Rapid Response Team in the southwest side of Chicago and longtime resident of the 14th Ward. I supervise as a passage program in 10 schools and communities that are impacted by violence and low funding programs. I know what works to lower violence in our community, jobs, youth programs, after school programs, and street intervention. I support this budget because it supports community through violence prevention programs.

1:09:20 Thank you, Mayor Brandon Johnson, for fighting for those programs to help our community and our youth. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I just want to thank again Alders Gutierrez, Sigcho Lopez. I know Rodriguez had to leave. And, of course, our dear sister Ramirez, thank you all for your leadership and your commitment, not just to the southwest side of Chicago, but to working people across the city. It has truly been a pleasure and honor serving alongside of you all.

1:09:51 Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all. I hope you have a beautiful good night and have a safe trip back home.

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