Mayor Brandon Johnson and a group of aldermen pushing its own budget proposal on Monday did not appear to move any closer to an agreement on a spending plan for next year, despite a City Hall meeting to try to reach a compromise to avert an unprecedented city government shutdown at the end of the year.

As the city faces a budget deficit of more than $1 billion, a key sticking point in budget talks remains the mayor's push to revive the city's corporate head tax.

A group of the mayor's critics, who oppose the head tax, said Monday that support for their alternate budget plan is growing. Johnson's latest proposal for the head tax would charge businesses with 500 or more employees $33 per employee per month, but the mayor's opponents said any form of a head tax – which was eliminated in 2014 – is a no-go.

They devised a plan that would eliminate the mayor's head tax, but would have relied on increasing the city's garbage collection fee – which Johnson had vowed to veto.

On Monday, that opposition group of aldermen said they have removed a higher garbage collection fee from their plan, but did not reveal how they would replace the estimated $35 million in revenue that plan would have created. Their alternate budget plan would also increase liquor taxes, expand a rideshare surcharge for Uber and Lyft, and improve debt collection by selling some outstanding debt to collection agencies.

The mayor met on Monday afternoon with several members of the coalition opposed to his budget plan on Monday to discuss their latest counteroffer. It was the first time during the budget impasse that the mayor himself was at the table with aldermen, but Johnson said he was disappointed that they would not provide details of their plan.

"Never in my life have I ever seen the level and the degree of obstinance coming from a legislative branch," Johnson said. "Their obstinance is not only disappointing, quite frankly it's surprising. They didn't show us anything. We just wanted to see their proposals. They didn't show us anything."

For their part, the mayor's opponents said Johnson would not tell them whether or not he would veto a budget that does not include his head tax.

"We did not get a straight answer. This mayor has repeatedly stated his values are not negotiable, that corporations and the ultra-rich must pay their fair share; and by our calculations, with our revenue package, corporations are paying on the order of 84% of the new revenues in our package," Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) said. 

The mayor said he hopes to get negotiations going again, but his opponents said they plan to move forward Tuesday to call for a vote on their alternate budget in a Finance Committee meeting scheduled for 11 a.m., when they said they will release the details of their latest proposal.

However, it's unclear if Budget Committee chairman Ald. Jason Ervin (29th), who is siding with the mayor in budget negotiations, will allow for any budget votes in his committee when it is scheduled to meet on Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement earlier in the day on the revised alternative spending plan, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) said, in addition to eliminating their original proposal for a garbage tax hike, their latest proposal also would maintain funding for youth jobs that the mayor had proposed in his original budget, fully fund the collections budget for the Chicago Public Library, and provide additional funding for gender-based violence.

"We believe that this final proposal represents the position of an even broader number of alders than we had just a few days ago and are excited to move forward in this process to avoid a shutdown and give residents, families and businesses the peace of mind they deserve as we close out 2025," Villegas said.

Before their meeting at City Hall, Johnson said it was good to see the aldermen had buckled on the garbage tax, but he insisted their math still doesn't add up, claiming their revenue projections are inflated – which the alders dispute. Still, the mayor said it was good to be at the table with his opponents to try to find a compromise.

"You saw their proposal. It doesn't get to the amount that we need to get to. So everybody's in agreement there that they come up short, but that's okay. We can still work through that. That doesn't stop us from negotiating. But, yes, their budget has missed the mark in terms of its revenue projections," Johnson said.

At least 27 aldermen have signed on to the alternate budget plan, enough to pass it. But the mayor has the authority to veto their plan, which is very possible. Overriding a veto would require 34 votes.

The mayor's opponents said their changes to their alternate budget proposal have yielded more support from their colleagues, but it's unclear if they have enough votes to withstand a possible veto. 

The two sides have until Dec. 30 to approve a balanced budget.

Community organizers who have sided with the mayor have said they will demand corporations help pay for violence prevention programs, youth jobs, and gender-based violence services. They are pushing for the City Council to keep the mayor's revised head tax, which Johnson's office has said would generate $82 million a year in revenue.

"Dedicated funding is crucial to protecting these services. We generate this funding by asking large corporations to pitch in when neighbors and survivors don't have the means to," said Breanna Champion, an organizer with the Chicago Black Voter Project.

Meanwhile, 13 members of the Chicago Board of Education are calling on the City Council to use the funding bill to support schools.

In a letter to alders that will be sent Monday, the board members want the budget to honor promises on Tax Increment Financing district funding, and to include funding for essential programs that are being threatened by federal funding cuts.