Mayor Brandon Johnson presents FY27 Chicago budget

First of all, good morning to all of you, and thank you for joining us. Allow me to give particular thanks to my budget and finance teams, policy team, commissioners, and the thousands of dedicated public servants who keep Chicago running. Our acting budget director, Jonathan Ertz, chief financial officer, Ashley Gabrish, and to our city comptroller, Michael Belsky, chief of policy, Jung Young, and their teams. They have spent countless hours developing our fiscal year 2027 budget and finding enduring, sustainable solutions for the greatest city in the world, Chicago. And to the community, community organizations, our labor unions, cultural institutions, and social service agencies, civic and philanthropic partners, business leaders, and members of our faith community, all of who are joining us today. Thank you. You are essential partners in the work of building a safe, affordable Chicago. You bring people together, strengthen our neighborhoods, create pathways to success, and remind us that the future of our city is a shared responsibility. We are particularly appreciative of the bold visions you bring to how we govern. Your organizing is directly reflected in this year's budget. And as you keep organizing and keep pushing your elected officials, myself included, I'm grateful for your steadfast dedication to the people of Chicago. Last but certainly not least, I must thank my family. I often speak about my love, my wife, Stacy, and our three wonderful children. And today I want to talk about my children, and I also want to speak about your children, about our children. James Baldwin said that the children are always ours, every single one of them. He was right. He also said that he was beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing that may be incapable of morality. But I know that everyone in this room recognizes what we owe our children. We owe them responsible investment in programs that work. And whether they are CEOs or child care workers, over and over, Chicagoans say that they want the same things for our city. They want affordable homes and good schools. They want to be safe and they want to feel safe. They want to have meaningful work that pays enough to be able to afford groceries and medical care and to not worry about making rent. They want reliable public transportation, clean parks, and beautiful libraries. Plenty of people in Chicago have all of those things already, and then some. And there is more than enough to go around, and there are plenty of reasons to ensure that everyone receives their fair share. Our futures are tied together. When our neighbors thrive, our communities grow stronger. And when our communities grow stronger, all of Chicago succeeds. See, success starts by sowing block-level investments. Across all of our 77 neighborhoods, every single one of our children in every single neighborhood deserves a city that invests in their future. And that is the promise and at the heart of the budget that I've introduced today, the fair share budget. My 2027 budget ensures that every Chicagoan receives their fair share of the investments, services and opportunities that define our city. funded by responsible spending cuts that protect essential services and by asking the wealthy and the largest corporations in this city to pay their fair share. A fair share budget means delivering for people in the ways that matters most in their lives. People feel government most acutely at the local level. And unfortunately, they also feel local government most acutely when it is absent. People notice when trees are untrimmed, and God knows they notice when potholes are unfilled. They notice ghost buses and closed schools. They notice absence. When government works the way it should, we don't think twice about it. Removing garbage or a tree stump shouldn't be a special occasion. It should be something that every Chicagoan can count on. Every neighborhood ought to reap all of the rewards of living in what the world recognizes as the most beautiful, climate-resilient city on the planet. In my conversations with alder people about this year's budget, one message came through loud and clear. Our communities deserve a city government that shows up, delivers, and ensures that the basic human rights are provided every single day. And so I do want to thank the members of City Council who met with me to share their community's priorities. From Norwood Park to South Shore, the message was the same. People want their trees trimmed, their potholes filled, their streets maintained, and their neighbors and their neighborhoods cared for. These are basic city services, and our residents deserve a government that delivers on all of them. Chicagoans work hard. They pay their taxes, they raise their families, and they do their part to keep our community strong. And they should see their tax dollars come back to their neighborhoods. and make a real difference in their lives. And that is why I'm inspired by a couple of alders who remind me every day the importance of their leadership. Thank you to Alderwoman Clay and Ramirez. Our fair share budget doubles our investment in the Department of Streets and Sanitation's Quality of Life program. And that means growing the teams, working across our city to clean vacant lots and to clear debris. We are adding 10 forestry crews to trim 15,000 more trees and ensure the full force of city government shows up when severe weather strikes and devastates communities. See, no neighborhood should have to fight to be cared for, and no community should ever feel forgotten by its government. In fact, people should feel like their governments are caring for them proactively. this care becomes even more important in the face of climate change and the associated harms that come with it severe weather impacts everyone but some communities have more resilient infrastructure than others and that's why the fair share budget invests in infrastructure that addresses the root causes of flooding and helps communities recover from severe weather events while focusing that investment in the neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to climate change we are also expanding smart streets citywide because the freedom to move safely through our city should belong to every Chicagoan and I do want to thank chairs Vasquez and Laspada for their leadership in making this possible and together we are keeping bike lanes clear moving buses and bus stops making them more accessible so working parents can get home to their children seniors can travel safely and young people can get to school without fear and whether you're walking in Lincoln Park catching a bus in Brighton Park or riding a bike or driving to work, your safety matters. And your ability to reach people, places, and opportunities that you love, that matters. And just as every Chicagoan deserves the freedom to move safely through our city, every family deserves the peace of mind that comes with feeling safe in their own neighborhood. From day one, we have been guided by a fundamental belief that every Chicagoan deserves to be safe And true safety is built on trust, opportunity, community investment. And that means funding infrastructure. It also means constitutional policing that earns the trust of our residents and investing in the people, programs, and resources that prevents violence before it ever happens. Our vision for public safety is clear. In Chicago, where every family feels safe, every young person has a future, and every neighborhood has the resources to thrive. Despite the Trump administration cutting critical funding meant to support and protect our communities, I'm grateful to say that here in Chicago, our work is making a difference. We're seeing crime come down with record lows in homicides, including neighborhoods that have endured far too much violence and far too few investments for generations. And that progress means lives are being saved, families kept whole, and more young people with a chance to grow up and reach their full potential. But we can't take that progress for granted, Chicago. Behind every number is a person, a family, a community, because one shooting is one too many. One homicide is one too many. No family should have to bury a loved one because of gun violence. And so the fair share budget continues putting our vision into action, uniting city departments to prevent violence, supporting our police officers in protecting communities and solving crimes, and investing in trusted leaders who stop violence before it starts. And through the leadership of Alderman Mosley and the advocacy of Live Free, we've established the Department of Community Wellness and Safety and the Office of Gun Violence Reduction to centralize and coordinate across cities' violence reduction efforts. And building safer communities requires more than coordination. It requires investing in the people who know their communities best. And so the fair share budget prioritizes funding, community violence intervention, to stop violence before it starts. We are making a historic $40.6 million investment in CVI, activating 390 street outreach workers and over 800 peacekeepers across Chicago, including the CTA. Last year's investment in street outreach has supported CVI teams across 38 communities. And these are trusted leaders who show up for their neighbors. They interrupt cycles of violence, and they save lives. These teams have resolved nearly 2,600 conflicts, preventing situations from escalating into violence. And that is the promise of our fair share budget, giving every community the resources that they need to build peace, safety, and a future that they and their children deserve. Our record high community investments and people, they pay off in the form of record low rates of violence for a whole community. Let's consider Bo Deal, a senior manager of field operations at one of our partner organizations, Metropolitan Peace Initiative. See, Bo was released from prison in 2004, and he has worked in CVI for over a decade. In 2023, with support from MPI, he became the first member of their street outreach team to complete an undergraduate degree. And he continues to provide resources and support across East and West Garfield Park. Bo described the pride of his assignment by describing the ripple effect of CVI investment to my office. This is what he said. He said, who better to touch the people in the community than the people who have been a part of this community and actually made it out to change? He said, nobody is more effective than a person like that. Another CVI worker, James Mitchell, describes himself as living proof that if given the right chances, opportunities, and resources, people can change. And when James talks about the importance of government and community support for people seeking growth and second chances, he's not suggesting anything unreasonable. If he were born in the Gold Coast instead of on the West Side, those opportunities would exist for him already. So it is our job to ensure opportunities exist in every neighborhood. I do want to give a special shout out to the retiring congressman, the OG, the first Democratic socialist, Congressman Danny K. Davis, for all of his work on providing a second chance. See, this work should start as early as it can. That's why I'm grateful for Alderwoman Fuentes, because she knows this personally. And that is why she has fought so hard for youth peacekeeping and why we are investing in 50 youth peacekeepers to lead the work of building safer and stronger communities. Thank you for your leadership, because as I've I've often said, this community safety is not just about the absence of violence. It is the presence of opportunity. It is knowing you can grow up and put down roots in the neighborhood that you love. Stay close to your aging parents and lifelong friends and build a future for your children. And that is why another pillar of my work in City Hall has been about direct investments in our young people and the people who care for them. We will continue our historic $7 million investment to raise the wages for thousands of early childhood educators. The Chicagoans who care for our children deserve fair pay, dignity, and respect. families deserve access to consistent affordable child care and and all of our children deserve every opportunity that's possible and so that is why next year i'm expanding chicago youth works because a young person with a paycheck a mentor and somewhere to be is a young person with the future and a young person with an opportunity ahead of them is a young person who fosters growth and safety in their own community. Last year, we saw double-digit declines in shootings and homicides in the five community areas with the highest number of youth jobs. And to keep building on that success, this summer, we hired over 33,000 young people, a city record. But the demand far exceeds our funded spots. Chicago, there were 56,000 applicants for Chicago Youth Work position. And that is why we have to put an end to this lie that young people do not want to work. They actually want the opportunity, and it's our responsibility to give it to them. Young people in every corner of Chicago are calling for those opportunities to work, to lead, and to make their communities safer. This past summer, in the 38th Ward, we hired 63% of the ward applicants, 63% of them right out of the 38th Ward. And in the 29th ward where I live, we hired 852 young people. It was only 52% of the young people who actually applied in that ward. In every corner of Chicago, demand for opportunity outpaces access to opportunity. And so, the fair share budget will invest an additional $24 million in empowering the city to hire 40,000 young people next summer. That will double the amount of young people with paid summer jobs. You see, opportunities must go beyond employment. Chicago is a city for curiosity, exploration, and learning. And that is why the Chicago fair share budget fully funds and resources our Chicago public libraries. And we're going to do that without raising property taxes. See, responsible stewardship of our resources is our obligation to future generations. As I have said before, our current financial difficulties come from irresponsible management of our resources. Over 30 years ago, when I was walking across the stage at my high school graduation, occupants of City Hall were skipping payments into our pension fund. But today, I'm making those payments in their stead. We owe it to the young people of Chicago to invest wisely so that when they look back and think about what our city was doing during their high school graduation, they do not have to think about missed pension payments. That's not the future we should strive to build. Instead, let them look back on the skills that they built at their summer job or the art that they made at the library. So when my children look back 30 years from now, I want them to look at a time where together we made the investments necessary for our collective future, and I want them to reap the rewards of those investments instead of dealing with the problems that we passed down to them and the failure of hope of avoiding them altogether. that's why the long-term impacts of the fair share budget will be transformative our work is future focused across every possible metric and the future begins with something every family deserves a safe and stable affordable place to call home as we continue to expand our investments and affordable housing we are simultaneously prioritizing climate resilience through our green social housing program we have appointed a board of housing experts and community leaders to oversee our $135 million revolving loan fund and work is underway to identify and prepare our first sustainable affordable developments. We are turning the promise of housing affordability into homes. Chicago families can count for generations. So that's why I want to thank Alderwoman Mana Hafenworth for her leadership of making this possible. Sisters and brothers we have a responsibility to help more Chicagoans. More Chicagoans find and keep a safe place to call home And in the past three years, in partnership with the city, more than 10,000 affordable homes have been built, preserved, rehabbed, or entered the development pipeline. But in addition to constructing new residences, the fair share budget invests an additional $15 million in homelessness services and $13 million in rental assistance and $2 million in the flexible housing pool. These targeted investments, tirelessly advocated for by organizers with Keep Chicago Housed will reach more than 3,000 residents, keeping families in their homes, in their neighborhoods they love, and close to the people who matter most to them. This is fiscal responsibility because it guarantees to pay dividends in terms of public safety and stability for all. The flexible housing pool alone provided supportive housing to 1,750 people across 998 households. After 12 months, 92% of residents who received this support were able to stay in their homes, and participants saw an 82% reduction in contact with the criminal legal system. Investment in affordable housing is investment in community safety. It's an investment in our shared future. And while we are investing in ending homelessness and building more homes, we are also fighting to keep families from losing their homes in the first place. And as a result of the advocacy of Southside Together and the leadership of Alderman Desmond Yancey, the Fair Share Budget invests $2.5 million in the Jackson Park property tax relief pilot to help longtime homeowners stay in their homes as property values rise. thank you alderman because as alderman Yancey knows families who built and sustained these neighborhoods they deserve in the share of this future not to be displaced by it and keeping our community strong means investing not only in housing but in the health and well-being of the people inside and that is why the Fair Share Budget funds mental health care for all Chicagoans Because this, too, is crime prevention. This, too, is economic growth, the kind of investment that makes a city competitive for business, big and small alike. Now, you all know, since her very first day in office, Chairwoman Rodriguez-Sanchez has reminded this body time and again that when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, what they need is treatment, not trauma, care, not criminalization. Rosanna, thank you for your leadership. Together, we launched CARE, an emergency response program that sends trained mental health professionals to people in crisis. We have now expanded CARE citywide. The fair share budget continues building on that investment, one that has already begun to pay off for Chicagoans in crisis. Let's consider Raul Alberto, a Chicagoan who fell into a deep depression following a traumatic encounter with federal immigration authorities, compounded by family conflict he felt hopeless and questioned whether life was worth living our care team responded and met Raúl with patience and compassion earning his trust and helping him get to the hospital for the care that he so desperately needed in the weeks that followed Raúl stayed connected with the care team and enrolled in an outpatient treatment program and now today he is working as a lead maintenance technician looking for an apartment of his own and he's rebuilding his life. The care team showed up for Raul when he was struggling to see a way forward, but care cannot begin and end with an emergency. Chicagoans need both proactive and reactive mental health care, and the fair share budget funds those resources. Our seven city-run mental health clinics provide therapy, psychiatric services, case management, and healing arts programming. And from 2023 to 2025, the number of services delivered through these clinics has increased by more than 52 percent. That growth tells us that more Chicagoans are turning to our city's mental health clinics for support, and we are dedicated to meeting that need despite the devastating federal cuts. The Trump administration has targeted Chicago's public health infrastructure, attempting to roll back federal funding that supported disease prevention, emergency preparedness and public health but the fair share budget protects the life-saving work of the Chicago Department of Public Health and we know these investments matter because after the pandemic it drove life expectancy down across our city, Chicagoans are now living longer than ever before with life expectancy reaching a record 79 and a half years black Chicagoans have seen the greatest gains, but significant racial life expectancy gaps, they still persist. On average, despite historic gains, non-black Chicagoans can expect to live 9.4 years longer than black residents of our city. No one's zip code or race should determine how long they live. We are fighting for the kind of investment that will give my neighbors in Austin nearly a decade more time with their loved ones, and we will keep fighting until every Chicagoan has the opportunity to live a long and healthy life. Because everyone deserves access to the resources that are abundant in some parts of our city and heartbreakingly absent from others. Everyone deserves a life that comes from the presence of those resources. Building communities where people can live longer, healthier lives also means creating economic opportunities that allow families in neighborhoods to thrive. We know what investment can mean for a neighborhood. On 75th Street, entrepreneur Tarsha Jackson transformed a vacant church into Roots Southern Cuisine, a soul food restaurant honoring the neighborhood's civil rights legacy. My administration helped bring her vision to life with a Neighborhood Opportunity Fund grant. And this business is so much more than a restaurant. It is a livelihood and livelihood for our dear sister, Mrs. Jackson. Another place for neighbors to gather and a way to keep the history and traditions alive through food. Better quality of life comes from the presence of gathering places and, of course, fresh food. In this year's budget, we are counting or continuing to invest in small businesses. Nearly $20 million from the Catalyst Fund that sat unused for years. And through this transformation, we will expand access to capital for local entrepreneurs and support neighborhood investments like community centers, educational facilities, and other essential resources. We are unlocking development and economic opportunity, and this investment does not happen without our wonderful city treasurer, Melissa Conyers-Irvin. Thank you for your leadership. I see how Jason got a matching red tie. He can't do nothing without checking in with you first. As we balance the fair share budget, we heeded the calls, to prioritize savings and efficiency. We have heeded these calls across my tenure. Over the past three budgets, we have found $740 million in savings and efficiencies, and we did it without laying people off. The fair share budget will save another $120 million through corporate cost reduction initiatives while protecting services and keeping city workers on the job. To be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, we are renegotiating contracts, consolidating real estate, and modernizing our fleet. And in the last year's budget, organizational improvements to debt collection practices resulted in a $500 million increase in recouped debt. We did not resort to predatory practices or selling residents' personal information to third parties. We use data-driven strategies to collect debt from those who are most able to pay and... to provide relief programs to help people who are already stretched, then settle what they owe, because that is the fiscally responsible approach. Hundreds of thousands of residents have participated in our relief programs, bringing tens of millions of dollars back into the city that we otherwise might not have collected. In 2027, we anticipate at least $6 million in new collection from our vehicle debt amnesty program while delivering relief for Chicagoans. And we are also increasing savings by answering the call to repair old harms. Days ago, this body approved legacy settlements for and for those who were harmed by former police detective Guevara during an era of wrongful conviction. This was the right and just decision. But we know there are more legacy cases that are pending. Investing in our residents means recognizing there are individuals and families who are still suffering from harms of the past. Delaying these cases prolongs suffering for families and passes ever-growing legal expenses onto the future generations of Chicagoans. By making timely settlements now, we can give resolution to those for whom it has long been delayed, while also shielding taxpayers from the rising cost of expensive litigation that could otherwise go in for our communities. These settlements will save Chicago between $300 to $400 million compared to extended litigation. But savings alone aren't enough. You cannot cut your way to a better future because a better future requires investments, not cuts. You cannot keep asking our communities to make do with less and expect to deliver on the promises that we've made to the people that we serve. Throughout American history, everyday people have fought for their fair share. And when working, people organize. They win. Just look at the nurses recently fired by Prime Health Care at hospitals across Chicago area. Most have been rehired and they won their organizing drives because when working people stand together, they have the power to win. And when they win, we all win. But all too often there has been pushback. In 1987, in his inaugural address, Mayor Harry Washington reminded us that Chicago stood at a fork in the road. We could choose the difficult but necessary work of rebuilding our city, or we could take the easy road, a road that would only lead us backward. The year prior, he introduced his own fair share budget. That budget included many of the things that I'm fighting for today. It called for investment in mental health care and investment in the neighborhoods that had been too long ignored and deprioritized. And it did so while the federal government, led by Ronald Reagan, was slashing taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations and slashing investment and everyday people. Following Mayor Washington's untimely death, our city reverted to prioritizing corporate profits and measuring success by the number of cranes in the loop, forgetting that the success of our city cannot be measured in one neighborhood. Our success must be measured by the presence of investment in every part of Chicago and addressing every single need. Now, as then, across America, local governments are confronted with the challenges that reach far beyond their city limits. Growing wealth disparities, endless wars overseas, and the rising costs are placing enormous pressure on families and communities. One year ago, President Trump unleashed Operation Midway Blitz to terrorize our community, to tear families apart and threaten the livelihoods of working people and small businesses. In addition to the trauma and physical harm inflicted on our city, a recent study showed Operation Midway Blitz cost Cook County $1.26 billion. And the harm inflicted by the Trump administration extends far beyond Operation Midway Blitz. From the fear and trauma inflicted on our communities to the economic hardship facing working families, Chicagoans are paying the price for an administration that puts the interests of the wealthy and powerful ahead of the people who make this city run. In the second quarter of this year, in the second quarter of this year, corporate profit margins increased by 384 billion dollars reaching an annualized 4.7 trillion dollars while the share of business revenue going back to workers fell to a record low of 52.9 percent there is no reason to coddle or feel sorry for corporations they are doing just fine here here's here's here's here's the thing though president trump and his allies have compounded this imbalance with a massive corporate tax breaks allowing corporations to pay an estimated 137 billion dollars less in taxes this year and while corporations enjoy another handout his administration is cutting the very programs working families depend on from medicaid and food assistance into affordable health care. I don't think it's a coincidence that every area that Donald Trump is defunding are the literal demands of the formerly enslaved. Education, housing, health care, transportation, good paying jobs. This is not new. This is just what they do. But Chicago has to be better because history does not have to repeat itself. We do not have to allow corporate interests to lobby us into meeting these federal cuts with municipal whole abandonment. Instead, we can learn from those who come before us and allocate resources to confront our structural challenges so that there does not have to be another mayor trying to ensure that every Chicagoan has their fair share. We cannot address structural problems without structural solutions. And let us be very explicit here. This investment did not happen by accident. It was created by racism and redlining. Today, Chicago, there are still 90% more black Chicagoans in redlined communities compared to the surrounding areas. The only way to remedy that kind of intentional creation of poverty is to intentionally create sustainable growth, sustainable pathways to generational wealth. And the only way to create those things is to invest in them. So when people talk about how Chicago needs to address poverty and build hospitals but refuse to acknowledge the only pathway to do so is by asking giant corporations to allocate a drop in their ocean of resources to make that investment possible, I would politely ask those people to be more fiscally responsible. Our city can only reach its full potential when investments happen intentionally to remedy equally intentional disinvestment. We have an abundance of resources to invest you all know who holds them it is so clear who it is to ask to pay their fair share to shoulder a little bit more it is clear to nearly 90 percent of chicagoans and chicagoans i am internally grateful to everyone who participated in our 2027 budget and gave engagement roundtable and took the time to share their priorities with chicago for chicago's future and so on this point the people were absolutely united when asked which revenue options they supported. 88% of adult respondents and 74% of young people chose increasing taxes on large corporations. Across generations, Chicagoans made it clear that they believe the largest corporations should contribute their fair share toward the services and investments that our communities need. So we will heed the call of the nearly 90% of Chicagoans who spoke with one powerful voice. We must hold large corporations accountable for their share of our collective future. The fair share budget will require the largest corporations located outside of socioeconomically disadvantaged areas to chip in just $25 per month for each Chicago-based employee to help invest in our neighborhoods, our people, and our long-term financial health, and to incentivize economic development in Chicago, particularly in historically neglected communities. Large corporations spend huge amounts of money recruiting employees and Retaining them through a variety of frivolous perks, free lunches, health and wellness credits. And so let's be honest, the best way to recruit and retain employees right here in the city of Chicago is to ensure that our city has affordable housing, good transportation, safe streets, and robust services. The equitable employer tax is a smart investment for all of us. And we have a new incentive to not only promote equity, but to allow concerned employers to avoid the tax entirely if they bring their businesses to communities that need development and access to the jobs the most. So while our equitable employer tax challenges large corporations to put more skin in the game, our new tax credit, which is called the seed credit, allows those same corporations to receive a monthly credit for each Chicagoan that they employ in historically disinvested communities. Because I'm reminded of a story that when a sower went out to sow, when you sow in good ground, you reap the full benefit when you sow in good ground. And the last I checked, the west and south sides of the city of Chicago, despite previous administrations, is good ground to sow in. This tax is not about tilting. Amen, brother. We got the amen corner there. This tax is not about tilting against a straw man of corporations and billionaires. It's about a fair investment, funding the resources that draw those corporations to Chicago in the first place. So if Chicago is good enough to bring your business, then the people of Chicago should be good enough to hire and work in those businesses. And make no mistake, the corporations continue to come. We are the number one American metropolitan area for corporate relocation. Because equitable investment in our city, it creates jobs, it attracts businesses and tourists, and it does so while addressing the root causes of disinvestment head on. It is fiscally responsible. Equitable investment creates the foundation of public safety necessary for us to build. But we are not focused exclusively on any one corporate tax or financial strategy. And I would kindly ask that each member of the media that's present here today, to make that clear in their reporting and let's not allow the discourse about this budget to focus on a tax that makes up 1.5 percent of our corporate budget because here's the thing we are committed to exploring innovative new ideas to raise revenue so thanks to the leadership of Alderman Burnett we are introducing a new packaging waste tax of 15 cents for each single use mailer or package used in deliveries in Chicago of course exempting medicine and food takeout to not only raise a projected nine million dollars but also to encourage people to shop local and to reduce waste and we are recommitting to revenue raising strategies that we know work this year prove that sustainable forms of progressive revenue are the best path towards a stronger financial future every one of our progressive taxes has outperformed projections by millions of dollars because of these results this year instead of making reckless speculations We are focusing our efforts on what we know that actually works. The fair share of budget is 76% structural, meaning we are reducing our reliance on one-time fixes, continually shrinking our deficit. That is fiscally responsible. And by making adjustments to the personal property lease tax, we will ask big tech companies like Amazon, profiting from Chicagoans to contribute more to city services while tailoring each reach to preserve outside investment and growth in Chicago. We're going to do that as much as possible. These increases alone are expected to produce an additional $234 million in 2027. And this is how we build the Chicago that our children deserve. Finally, Chicago's greatest strength has always been its people, the workers who keep it moving, the families who invest in its future, the small businesses and the owners who bring our commercial corridors to life, and the neighbors who show up for one another when times get hard, and times are hard. Our diversity, our creativity, and our determination have carried us through difficult chapters before, though, and they will carry us forward as we continue building a city that lives up to its promise. Today, we have a choice. We can invest in our people, strengthen our neighborhoods, and build an economy where working families have a fair chance to share in the prosperity that they help create. We can confront inequality and make the investments our communities need to thrive. Or, we can accept the status quo. We can allow the same inequities to deepen, the same communities to be overlooked, and the gains of our economy to flow to those who already have the most. We can keep asking working people to do more with less while expecting our city to thrive without the investments that our people need. That is not the future that I'm willing to accept for Chicago. Last year, I spoke about a simple truth. What happens in Old Town, it affects Austin. What happens in Auburn Gresham, it affects Rogers Park. What happens downtown affects our neighborhoods. And what happens on the far southwest side of Chicago can be felt on the northwest side of Chicago. We may be divided into sides, wards, neighborhoods, but we are bound by our responsibility to one another. And that belief continues to guide this year's Chicago fair share budget. At a time when the federal government is cutting critical funding and targeting our city, we must protect the services and programs Chicagoans depend on. And we must do that without asking working class and middle class families to shoulder even more of the burden. Large corporations can and should contribute more to the city whose people, infrastructure, and neighborhoods make their success possible. And this is not about spite. It's about making sure Chicago's prosperity reaches the people who helped create it. Because this fight is about so much more than just one tax. It's about who gets to share in Chicago's prosperity, who gets a fair shot at opportunity, and whether we are willing to challenge the systems that have left too many communities behind. And if we look to our own history, we know this fight is not new. Harold Washington understood the promise of Chicago could never be fulfilled while entire communities were shut out of opportunity and power. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago to confront the deep inequalities that working families face, including the injustice of being denied fair housing and a fair chance at economic security. And like so many other great Americans, they challenged systems that concentrated wealth and power in the hands of a few while leaving too many people behind. And now decades later, that fight continues. We are still asking who bears the cost of our challenges. We're still asking who bears the cost of our challenges, whose interests our government serves, and whether we have the courage to make the difficult choices that our future demands. It will not, I will, not leave the difficult decisions to follow the feet of my children or yours. I hope you won't do it either. Let's do what is necessary to build the safest, most affordable big city in America. Let us plant the seeds of a fair Chicago. We do not have to accept the way things are simply because that is the way that they've always been. We know what happens when inequality deepens and when we abandon our responsibilities to one another. And we should never accept the notion that asking those with the greatest means to pay their fair share, and that somehow that will come at the economic expense of economic growth, it's a lie. See, the Chicago Fair Share Budget is our commitment to choose differently, to protect our people, to sustain our investments, and to build on the strength of a city that has never been defined by its challenges, but by its determination to overcome them. So I ask you to join us. Stand with the people who make this city great. Fight for the investments our neighborhoods need. Help us build a Chicago where a family has a fair shot. I'm reminded of Matthew 25, where the gospel reminds us that we should care for the sick. We should feed the hungry. We should welcome the stranger. That's who we are as Chicago. And every community has a future. And the people who make this city work, they should share in all that is available to them. this fight is ours and the people of chicago are counting on us to build an economy that speaks to the justice that this city deserves as Dr. King said so famously that if we do it right in chicago we can do it anywhere in the world so let's pass the fair share budget god bless you all and god bless the greatest freest city in the world chicago