Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking down the financial road from City Hall, and sounding an alarm of sorts for members of the Chicago City Council. From the city's own looming budget deficit to instability on Wall Street and in Washington, it's setting up to be a challenging budget year in 2026.

Johnson wants early talks and open dialogue with other city leaders, but some members of the City Council said they've been sounding the same alarm for months.

The city has been budgeting some programs as though federal COVID funding was going to be here forever. It isn't. It's gone, and what's arrived is a mayor some say is late to sounding the fiscal alarm.

With a springtime optimism, Mayor Johnson on Tuesday touted fresh city construction projects.

"We look forward to seeing more cranes in the sky and shovels in the ground across our great city," he said.

However, a fair amount of financial strife is in the air in Chicago, too.

The mayor used the Trump administration's policies as a backdrop for what he claims is in store for Chicagoans, citing the impact of President Trump's tariffs on working families.

"Look, this president is an absolute nightmare," Johnson said. "That impact is quite severe in Chicago. It could cost the average family about $4,000 in additional taxes and it could impact upwards of 11,000 jobs."

In a letter to members of the City Council on Monday, Johnson warned of the impact of the crippling economic news from Wall Street to the White House.

"This volatility, combined with the projected budget gap makes it all the more important that we work together," Johnson wrote. "I'm asking all of you to lean into this process with the urgency it requires."

Some members of the City Council said Johnson was late to acknowledge the city's precarious financial position.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said he and nearly two dozen aldermen sounded the alarm two months ago to the mayor last fall, writing on Dec. 5, "We take you at your word, and want to truly collaborate."

Instead, Waguespack said Johnson was laser-focused on passing his 2025 budget plan, even as warnings about the road ahead were right in front of him.

As Johnson zeroed in his budget, his critics said he ignored the evaporating COVID funding for the city, and refused to cut city programs deep enough, driving up the deficit for 2026.

The land mine-laden 2026 budget is now taking center stage on the 5th floor of City Hall.

"The conversation cannot start off with cuts. That's my orientation," Johnson said on Tuesday. "We start with revenue."

Waguespack called that "a failed fantasy."

"I think the first thing you have to do is look at the cuts that you need to make. The hard choices that taxpayers are gonna have to make have to be made at City Hall, too," he said.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said Johnson is a day late and a dollar short on the fiscal crisis at the doorstep of City Hall.

Other City Council members said they think the mayor is under-cutting the true deficit the city will soon face.

Johnson said the city is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall in 2026. His City Council critics believe it is more like $3 billion.