CHICAGO — After months of closed door meetings and zipped lips from its members, a working group appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson to give him ideas to to plug next year’s $1.15 billion budget gap is rolling out a bunch of largely familiar, in some cases improbable options for Chicago officials to consider.

The report is a mix of revenue increases and cuts, but it omits bolder ideas backed by progressive groups like a payroll expense tax on corporations, the mass cancellation and sweeping of special taxing districts, or major cuts to the Chicago Police Department budget.

It remains to be seen whether the report becomes an important part of sure-to-be difficult negotiations between Johnson and aldermen to balance the 2026 budget, or if it gathers dust like so many prior works penned by mayor-appointed panels.

The biggest ticket items in the roughly 80-page report are some of the thorniest. A yearlong city government vacancy freeze, for example, could save somewhere between $144 and $162 million, the report estimates, but increase overtime costs.

Raising garbage fees up from their current $9.50 per month could generate from $20 million up to nearly $300 million, but the sticker shock would likely make voters bristle, and it could draw heat from progressive allies of the mayor who view doing so as a regressive increase that hits poor and working class Chicagoans hardest.

Expanding the “congestion” tax zone on Uber and Lyft rides could bring in up to $103 million, but dis-incentivize visits to popular areas still recovering from the pandemic, the report noted.

Johnson convened the 24-member working group back in April to provide short-term ideas for city leaders to consider heading into the next budget, and longer-term ideas by next May. The report briefly mentions some heavier lifts, including reopening discussions about pension buyouts or several rounds of borrowing to help bail out the city’s four funds for retirees.

In all, the ideas, if fully implemented, could generate up to $2.1 billion.

The working group members — chosen by Johnson from the business community, organized labor and community groups — met regularly with city officials and a dedicated team from Ernst & Young to look under the city’s hood. It was a “great undertaking” that was “approached very seriously by everybody,” task force co-chair Jim Reynolds, CEO of Loop Capital, told reporters in a Monday briefing. “Virtually everything we asked for was made available to us.”

Johnson’s administration was barred from vetoing any of the recommendations, Reynolds’ co-chair, Karen Freeman-Wilson, president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League, said. In all, there are 89 proposals reached by consensus, though several entries include “dissent” bullets to capture what pushback there was from the group.

A recommendation to cut CPD overtime spending — a common budget goal year after year — included a dissent that said the recommendation did not go far enough, noting CPD’s actual spend had been double the budgeted amount for several years. Another dissent to proposed “flexible furlough” days for union employees argued it would kill morale, drive more overtime costs, and lead to higher turnover.

The report also recommends several proposals a majority of aldermen are currently balking at or already swore off last year: extending the current 1% grocery tax to bring in $80 million, tweaking liquor taxes to bring in $60 to $120 million, and raising the city’s property tax to keep up with the rate of inflation for $56 million.

Half a dozen ideas require state help, which the mayor has often struggled to secure. That includes an ask for a bigger cut from state income tax coffers. Municipalities’ current cut of the “Local Government Distributive Fund,” or LGDF, is about 6.7%. Bringing it up to 10% would net Chicago an estimated $250 million.

Another idea, for the state to tax services, could net the city between $78 and $305 million. Johnson’s Chief Financial Officer, Jill Jaworski, has argued the state should keep up with shifting consumer habits, which include spending more income on things like personal care, lawn service, and tax help. The state’s improved fiscal conditions have “not led to shared prosperity,” she told a City Club audience earlier this summer. “Thoughtful, purposeful tax reform will lift all boats.”

Charging the current amusement tax rate tax on online-only ticket brokers or charging fees for food and package deliveries would also need state sign-off. Those could bring in $35 million and up to $30.4 million, respectively, according to the report.

Others would require negotiations with various labor unions that represent about 90% of the city’s workforce, like “discussing salary caps” or increasing required employee contributions for benefits; redesigning health care plan offerings, and standardizing which employees make healthcare contributions while out on extended leave.

Of the 39 recommended revenue-generating ideas, most are small potatoes, but designed to ensure the city keeps up with inflation and rising costs. Advertising on light poles could bring in $4.3 million. Updating business permits for sidewalk cafes, canopies or zoning compliance together would generate $8 million together at most, the group estimates.

Others try to get ahead of emerging technologies like drones, and autonomous cars and boats, and follow other cities’ leads by charging licensing fees for city logos.

Some recommendations are retreads that have been repeatedly recommended, including cutting down on duplicative procurement, selling or leasing more city-owned property, and declaring larger surpluses from the city’s tax increment financing districts.

And others are already underway, including recouping city costs to put on large events, implementing an “early warning system” to flag problematic police behavior and avoid future misconduct settlements, and “civilianizing” more police positions to ensure cops can be on the street and administrative jobs are done by lower-salaried civilians.

____

©2025 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.