Mayor Lori Lightfoot has delivered a warning to Chicago aldermen who might vote against her budget: sources

News Room

As Mayor Lori Lightfoot works behind the scenes to muster the votes she needs to pass her 2021 city budget, she has delivered a message to City Council members: those who vote against her spending plan should not expect their wards to be prioritized, according to aldermen. In recent weeks, Lightfoot has held a series of meetings with aldermen during which she’s lobbied for their support on her controversial spending plan, which includes a $94 million property tax increase this year and annual bumps in the future, hundreds of city employee layoffs and a gas tax hike. Her administration has been working frantically to secure the 26 votes needed to pass her spending plan. As part of her efforts, Lightfoot met virtually Wednesday with members of the City Council Black Caucus where she made waves by telling them that aldermen who don’t support her budget won’t have their wards prioritized, according to four aldermen who were in the meetings. “Don’t come to me for s— for the next three years” if you don’t support the budget, two aldermen recalled her saying.

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