North Side Budget Meeting Details the Year Ahead for Chicago

North Side community members and residents came together Sept. 28 to inform Chicago officials of their opinions on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2026 city budget forecast and President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

The town hall was organized by Northside Action for Justice, United Working Families 50th Ward chapter, ONE Northside, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and People’s Unity Platform. 

Longtime Rogers Park resident and organizing committee member of United Working Families 50th Ward chapter Myra Glassman said the timing of the town hall was important because Chicago will soon enter the budget season, where affected parties develop, debate and finalize their financial plans for the next fiscal year.

“The budget itself has yet to be presented,” Glassman said. “This is the phase where groups like ours make our demands and put pressure on our alderpeople. We want to get those priorities in the budget that the mayor will present to the city council in October.” 

Several alderpersons attended the town hall, including Andre Vazquez (40th), Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th), Angela Clay (46th) and Maria Hadden (49th). 

Speakers at the meeting initially introduced the Trump’s administration bill nicknaming it the “Big Ugly Bill” in response to its official title, “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Their presentations warned both attendees and representatives how community members would face devastating cuts unless city officials reacted accordingly in the 2026 budget plan.

The Big Beautiful Bill permanently extends Trump’s tax cuts from 2017 while cutting Medicaid spending by 12%, tightening work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and introducing new tax breaks for high income earners. 

Organizers presented their own estimates on how the bill will impact Illinois, arguing there will be $7 billion dollars of tax breaks to the top five percent earners in Illinois paired with a $2.8 billion to the top one percent of earners. SNAP reductions would take away $1.1 billion from families in Illinois while changes in the federal tax credit could cut off $200,000 statewide.

Chicago’s budget forecast already projects a $1.15 billion budget gap adding to a $146 million deficit. Speakers argued Chicago would have to scramble for new revenue to maintain the city’s basic services through increased taxing of local residents.

Organizers argued the local impact would be devastating because ordinary Chicagoans would risk losing healthcare coverage, childcare assistance and higher education access. 

The coalition advocated for a set of revenue solutions as a response to the bill, calling for a $400 million corporate tax on large employers, a $186 to 330 million payment from wealthy tax-exempt institutions, a $323 million TIF surplus and a $60 million data mining tax on tech companies. Such measures could raise a total of $800 million to $1 billion annually as estimated by the speakers. 

Outside taxes, organizers called for the redirecting of funds from police vacancies and overtime spending to allocate spending towards youth mental health and violence prevention programs. 

Speaker and North Side resident Jonathan Dinman presented on behalf of the Public Health and Safety Coalition, which called for a reallocation of $200 million dollars from the Chicago Police Department’s $2 billion budget.

“The police department is getting a huge chunk of the city’s money,” Dinman said. “What we need is medical services, violence prevention and mental health care to prevent crime and violence in the first place.”

Alderpersons in attendance acknowledged the difficulty of moving funds away from police spending while also expressing support for the pursuit of new progressive streams of revenue. While community members applauded their response, many including Dinman were left frustrated.

“At different points they were talking to us like we’re children,” Dinman said. “I want you to be arguing with your colleagues who represent other parts of the city on my behalf because people in your ward have this opinion.”

Shelby Sparkle has lived on and off the North Side for 12 years and attended the town hall as a member of 46th Ward Neighbors United, a progressive political organization. She said the meeting left her feeling conflicted. 

“I found it very unsettling,” Sparkle said. “I’ve been through so many meetings with people showing line by line where the money could come from, and now I’m being told it isn’t there. I feel lied to, but I don’t know by who.”

As a community organizer, Sparkle said she feels the uncertainty could slow down momentum towards advocating for a representative budget but felt encouraged by the pressure people in the meeting put on officials.