The 29 council members who asked for the meeting are critical of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to close a gaping budget hole next year in part by raising property taxes.

Aldermen on Thursday weighed a Chicago Department of Public Health budget plan that’s well short of this year’s, as Mayor Brandon Johnson seeks to close a yawning shortfall in his citywide spending package.

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.

The proposal for a property tax increase would be a reversal of a campaign promise Mayor Brandon Johnson made.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2025 budget proposes a nearly $1 billion deficit. High personnel and pension costs have Johnson breaking his campaign promise not to hike property taxes. Plus there’s no plan for long-term fixes.

Mayor Brandon Johnson late last month proposed a $300 million property tax hike in an effort to close a nearly $1B budget gap.

The increase would be Chicago's largest in a decade, but alderpersons hope to force the mayor back to the bargaining table to find other revenue sources, budget cuts, or both. They fear Johnson is trying to stall,