Mayor Brandon Johnson raised the possibility Wednesday of city worker layoffs after a bruising budget fight that he again claimed led to an unbalanced spending plan for this year.
At a City Hall news conference, the mayor responded to a question about retroactive changes to the 2026 budget, which aldermen passed over his objections last month, by reiterating the package could force personnel cuts.
“There are still some concerns about whether or not the budget projections that were put forth by those other alders, that those projections will actually materialize,” Johnson told reporters. “So now I am bracing for what could be midyear layoffs, right? We warn people.”
Asked to elaborate on the layoff threat, Johnson hinted that police and fire could be affected.
“Well, if the revenues do not match the expenses, that’s what’s going to trigger it,” the mayor said. “As far as individuals who could be laid off, I mean we’re talking about public employees, right? There could be real, serious consequences to workers who are attached to community safety.”
The mayor specifically called out the budget’s projected $90 million debt sale measure as “immoral” and, on the issue of legalizing video gambling to raise an expected $6.8 million this year, he said more vaguely “there are more sound ways” to generate revenue. He did not elaborate on how he hopes to tweak the package beyond saying he wants to work with the City Council to manage government expenses.
Johnson’s motive for fighting the video gambling terminals would be because revenues would eat into the city’s first casino at Bally’s Chicago, which was billed as a way to help buoy pension funds, and because critics say vice taxes are a regressive way to raise revenue. But he has not indicated whether he would actually fight.
He pointed the finger at his City Council opponents, who in December took the remarkable step of passing their own $16.6 billion budget after Johnson’s 2026 proposal, which called for reinstating a corporate head tax and shorting an advance pension payment, failed to garner enough support. Johnson opted to neither veto nor sign the final package, an implicit surrender after weeks of failing to stop the rebellion from his legislative counterparts. But he maintained that he will not wear the political jacket for any adverse consequences.
Both the mayor and the aldermanic opposition agree this 2026 budget is not perfect. But the specter of layoffs remains hypothetical for now, and is part of Johnson’s ongoing messaging to hit back at City Council in the weeks leading up to and following his defeat in a 30-18 vote.
Also Wednesday, Johnson declined to answer directly when asked if he will seek reelection, telling reporters who asked about the looming 2027 election that he’s focused on making Chicago the safest and most affordable big city. “When it’s time to talk politics, you know, we’ll get into that,” he said.
And he bristled at a question about President Donald Trump’s ongoing threats to withhold federal funds to the CTA over a safety plan that the Trump administration says falls short, saying “there is nothing that we can submit to this president and it’s going to satisfy him.”
“I mean, you’re talking about a doty-brained individual,” Johnson said.
