With his first budget, Mayor Brandon Johnson could have reopened more mental health clinics, addressed homelessness without pushing for a controversial tax on high-end real estate transactions and hacked a bigger chunk off the city’s mountain of unfunded pension liabilities.
By the city’s accounting, he could have been able to do all of that while taking bigger swings at other campaign promises without breaking a sweat over a projected $538 million budget shortfall — and still had millions to spare for the city’s burgeoning migrant crisis.
