The Chicago City Council on Thursday unanimously rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposed $300 million property tax hike, forcing the mayor and his budget team to go back to the drawing board to balance the city budget for 2025. Aldermen scheduled a special meeting for Thursday to vote on Johnson's tax hike plan, and voted unanimously to reject it without debate. "It's a devastating loss for Mayor Johnson," Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) said after Thursday's vote. "I've been here going on 17 years. I've never seen this kind of vote take place, and I think in many of our lifetimes, we've never seen this. So it sends a message that that massive property tax increase he was looking for is not going to happen." "We needed to send a message today that weren't going to balance this budget on property taxes, working families," said Ald. Bill Conway (34th).