Mayor Brandon Johnson said his proposed 4 percent increase was just a play to increase engagement on the city’s budget.

CHICAGO — 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 ...

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.

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

The mayor is open to a “plethora of ideas” so long as they don’t compromise his core values of “investing in people” through summer jobs, community safety, behavioral health and affordable housing but also avoiding layoffs and furlough days and continuing to make additional payments on

Mayor Brandon Johnson is vowing to work with City Council members who are dead set on lowering or eliminating the property tax increase he has proposed.

Twenty-two of the City Council’s 50 members met Saturday with top mayoral aides, including Johnson’s budget team, to begin negotiations that, some alderpersons said, should have started long before Johnson belatedly introduced his $17.