The Chicago City Council approved the final pieces of a record $16.6 billion budget for 2026, capping months of tense negotiation between alderpeople and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration.
The council passed the budget by a 30-18 vote, with council members ultimately rejecting a proposed corporate “head tax” that had been floated earlier in the process as one option for closing the city’s budget gap.
The path to passage wasn’t smooth. Earlier in the fall, council members scheduled a series of additional meetings specifically to make sure they could finalize a budget before the year-end deadline, as alderpeople and the mayor’s office remained at odds over how to close a shortfall that had grown past $1 billion at points during negotiations.
The council also continues to handle a steady stream of routine city business alongside the larger budget fight — everything from ward-level ordinances and traffic sign requests to a newly signed executive order from Mayor Johnson focused on clean water, clean air, and energy affordability protections for Chicago residents.
With the budget now finalized, attention shifts to implementation — including how city departments plan to manage spending under the new framework through the rest of the fiscal year.