Desperate to avoid hitting Chicago home and business owners with a $300 million property tax increase, aldermen pelted the mayor’s finance team Wednesday with questions about alternatives to plug the 2025 budget hole.

WBBM’s Political Editor Craig Dellimore sat down with the mayor Thursday morning at City Hall to discuss the budget. The full conversation will be aired in this week’s At Issue segment at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.

Dozens of aldermen called for a special meeting to vote down the mayor's proposed $300 million property tax increase.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is all but giving up on his proposed $300 million property tax hike before aldermen kill it, and pushing them to find other revenue in its place to avert layoffs. Johnson’s administration is combing over alternatives to the tax jump after members of the City Council scheduled a special meeting in the hopes of voting it down.

The hike would boost taxes by 4.8% — raising them, for example, $318 on a $350,000 Chicago home — at a time when many have watched property taxes double over the last decade. Catch up fast: The mayor proposed the hike in his $17.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is calling an audible, as he walks back his proposal for a $300 million property tax hike to balance the budget.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said his proposed 4 percent increase was just a play to increase engagement on the city’s budget.