CHICAGO (WLS) – Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget team is pushing for a dramatically reduced property tax increase in hopes of getting enough votes to pass a budget before the end of the year.

The latest figure is around $60 million.

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The negotiations also destroyed another tax increase proposal, which caused a lot of resistance.

As the December cold sets in, many council members are still not on board with the idea of ​​a property tax increase of any kind.

“Residents are already under enough pressure and cannot afford another property tax,” said Ald. 23rd District. Silvana Tabares said.

The mayor’s $300 million property tax increase was defeated by a 50-0 vote, but the latest work plan calls for a cut to just $60 million. That’s about the amount it would increase if the mayor took advantage of the automatic increase tied to inflation.

“Well, the fact that we started with 300 and then went to 150. Well, we’re talking maybe 60, worries me extremely. Because, first of all, it looks like we should have started at 60.” ,” 9th District Ald. said Anthony Beale.

The mayor declined to give details and said he would not negotiate in the media.

But he made it clear that he was firmly against cuts.

RELATED: Council members propose budget cuts to avoid property tax increases in a letter to Chicago’s mayor

“People in Chicago say a lot to me, but they never say, ‘Mayor Johnson, could you just cut these services? Mayor Johnson, can you just lay off more people?’” Johnson said.

A local councilor is proposing that the council be given quarterly budget updates to avoid the current end-of-year scramble.

“Because if we just shoot from the hip at the end of the year, next year we could find that the projections are way off and see a bigger problem,” Ald., 40th District said. Andre Vasquez said.

One proposed revenue source that is now off the table is an increase in the liquor tax, which was met with strong opposition from the restaurant industry.

The chairman of the mayor’s budget committee expects some form of property tax increase to be implemented at some point.

“I think ultimately we need to fund the government at a level that people expect in order for services to continue,” said Ald. Jason Ervin said.

For now, negotiations are continuing behind the scenes.

“We are in the middle of negotiations with the Erlen. We are in the middle of hearing their ideas; we are in the middle of crunching numbers based on what they are asking us to do,” said Budget Director Annette Guzman.

Johnson said he was committed to presenting a balanced budget by the end of the year, as required by law, but he stopped short of predicting that the City Council would pass such a budget to prevent a government shutdown.