The Chicago City Council passed Mayor Brandon Johnson's first budget on Wednesday, a win for the mayor's liberal agenda that follows a low approval rating for his first six months in office.
The council's aldermen voted 41-8 in favor of Johnson's budget, which is estimated at $16.77 billion, that the mayor claims is a gradual introduction into the left-leaning policies that he promised to enact while on the campaign trail earlier this year. The budget does deviate from popular liberal stances, holding steady on property taxes and slightly increasing spending on law enforcement.
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This comes as a poll revealed on Wednesday that Johnson received a low approval rating of 28%, the lowest rating in modern history belonging to a Chicago mayor in the early days of his administration. The poll found Johnson had the highest disapproval rating in crime and public safety at 66%, followed by 64% in immigrant management and 63% in homelessness. As part of residents' top concerns, 69% of respondents said crime was Chicago's biggest problem, and 52% said they strongly disapprove of Johnson's approach to crime. One in 6 voters support a larger police presence in the city, as well.
Under Johnson's budget, $150 million will be geared toward asylum-seekers, a decline from previous estimates that placed the cost at exceeding $360 million, according to the Chicago Tribune. The police budget will be raised to nearly $2 billion thanks to a $91 million increase in 2024, and positions to detectives, a campaign promise, will be boosted by 100. Other police department shifts include civilianizing 400 sworn positions to free officers from desk work and boost the amount of field training offices, Johnson said.
Homelessness investments also will increase to $250 million, while anti-violence programming will reach $100 million. A separate vote on the city's $1.7 million 2023 property tax levy passed 40-9, aligning with another one of Johnson's promises not to raise property taxes that he made as a mayoral candidate.
Johnson's budget recommendation is a 2% increase from former Mayor Lori Lightfoot's election-year spending plan for 2023, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The budget secured several wins for Democrats and their allies, including the reinstitution of a city Department of the Environment and the creation of two mental health clinics in existing public health buildings while the city searches for more permanent locations. Johnson's spending plan will also double the staff for and make permanent the nonpolice 911 response teams within the Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement pilot started under Lightfoot.
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Additionally, the city will fund 4,000 new youth jobs as part of its summer employment program, with the goal to hire over 28,000 teenagers and young adults in 2024.
In September, Johnson's administration outlined a $538 million deficit for next year, mostly thanks to the deficit and policy structures he inherited from Lightfoot. One of Johnson's first acts as mayor was to undo Lightfoot's controversial move to tie the property tax to inflation. By closing that gap, Johnson took in a record $433.8 million from tax increment financing funds, according to the Chicago Tribune. "Tax increment financing" involves local taxing bodies and using those funds to "promote public and private investment across the city," according to the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.