City Council majority turns up the heat on Mayor Brandon Johnson to implement alternative budget

Ronald Reagan used the phrase “trust but verify” when discussing arms control negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.The operative phrase for the City Council majority that led the budget rebellion against Mayor Brandon Johnson is more like, “Verify because you distrust.”That much was clear on Wednesday when the coalition of conservative and moderate Democrats who rejected the mayor’s proposed corporate head tax created nearly a dozen working groups to make certain that Johnson implements the alternative budget he opposed instead of sabotaging it.Former Finance Chair Scott Waguespack (32nd), who was deposed by Johnson, leads two groups—one charged with selling advertising on city vehicles and assets, the other with implementing the $46 million in efficiencies outlined in the road map prepared for the city by EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young.Economic and Capital Development Chair Gilbert Villegas (36th) will take the lead in making certain that the Johnson administration raises nearly $90 million by selling long-outstanding city debt.Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) will oversee efforts to generate $312 million by raising the tax on cloud computing and equipment leases and $8.7 million by increasing the tax on plastic shopping bags by a nickel—to 15-cents-a-bag.“When the mayor was having these budget road shows and he was speaking ill about the budget passed and saying that the numbers didn’t add up, we realized that we were gonna have to put some work in to make sure this gets completed,” Nugent said Wednesday.“It’s the responsibility of the administration to [execute] the budget we passed.…

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