The overwhelming vote was largely symbolic. Negotiations aimed at reducing or eliminating the property tax increase and replacing it with a healthy mix of new revenues and reprogrammed federal pandemic relief funds began last weekend.

Dozens of aldermen called for a special meeting to vote down the mayor's proposed $300 million property tax increase.

In the 17 short months since his inauguration as Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson has transformed his bold vision for the city’s future and a narrow electoral win into a legacy of — well, not much.

The Chicago City Council emphatically voted down Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to hike property taxes by $300 million Thursday, creating a yawning hole in the city’s 2025 budget that must now be closed.

Dozens of Chicago alderpeople are expected to attend a special city council meeting on Thursday. They're expected to vote down Mayor Brandon Johnson's $300 million property tax hike proposal. Mayor Brandon Johnson wouldn't commit on Tuesday when asked if he would support possible alternatives to his proposal to raise property taxes to close a nearly $1 billion budget gap for 2025.

In a special meeting, Chicago's City Council voted unanimously to remove the mayor's proposed $300 million property tax increase from the 2025 budget plan. Why it matters: The removal of the tax hike will force Mayor Brandon Johnson to make hard decisions on other ways to generate more revenue or where to make cuts to city services.

The mayor and council members are now negotiating hikes to taxes and fees on alcohol, streaming services and garbage collection, among others.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is all but giving up on his proposed $300 million property tax hike before aldermen kill it, and pushing them to find other revenue in its place to avert layoffs. Johnson’s administration is combing over alternatives to the tax jump after members of the City Council scheduled a special meeting in the hopes of voting it down.