# Chicago makes it harder to borrow

> A City Council committee just raised the bar for new city debt, and the mayor's team is furious about the timing.
- Title: Chicago makes it harder to borrow · Chicago Sun-Times
- Summary: A City Council committee just raised the bar for new city debt, and the mayor's team is furious about the timing. Chicago borrowing would need 30 Council…
- Keywords: chicago, city council, municipal debt, brandon johnson, budget, news, local, makes, harder, borrow, Chicago Sun-Times
- Source: Chicago Sun-Times — https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/09/14/city-council-finance-committee-borrowing-threshold-marty-quinn
- Published: 2026-09-14T21:17:03.45+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: chicago, city council, municipal debt, brandon johnson, budget, news, local
## Committee backs a higher bar
The City Council's Finance Committee approved a measure Monday that would make borrowing money harder for Chicago, over loud objections from Mayor Brandon Johnson's closest ally.
## Quinn started at two-thirds
Retiring 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn first proposed lifting the borrowing threshold from a simple majority of 26 votes to a two-thirds majority of 34.
## Seventeen could have blocked
Under the original plan, just 17 Council members would have been enough to stop any future borrowing the city wanted to do.
## He cut the deal down
To win over wavering colleagues, Quinn lowered the bar to three-fifths, or 30 votes. The softer number did the job.
## The vote was 21-9
The Finance Committee approved the revised ordinance by a wide margin, sending it forward with real momentum behind it.
## Another loss for Johnson
It follows a Council majority that killed Johnson's corporate head tax and pushed through its own alternative city budget.
## The timing stings
The vote landed one day after Johnson launched his reelection campaign and just weeks before he presents his fourth, possibly final, budget.
## Ervin calls it hostage-taking
Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin argued 26 votes already suffice for everything the Council does, and that a blocking minority breaks how democracy is supposed to work.

> To allow a minority of members to effectively hold everybody hostage, I don't think is in the best interest
## Who does this hurt
Ervin pressed colleagues on how the move would read in minority communities, framing it as a question of what is being done to whom, and by whom.

> Why now? We need to look at the optics of how this will be perceived
## City Hall warns of gridlock
Senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee said letting a super-minority block bond ordinances would stall repairs to roads, bridges and other aging infrastructure.

> You don't want to create an opportunity for a super-minority to play politics with critical infrastructure
## Reilly: not about this mayor
Ald. Brendan Reilly said the rule applies to every future mayor and rewards a Council that has started acting independently of the executive.

> This change applies to all future mayors.
## More cooks, more scrutiny
Reilly's pitch is that needing extra votes forces specific conversations with individual members about whether the debt is prudent for taxpayers.

> We want more scrutiny. We want more vetting.
## Last year's close call
The Council nearly blocked an $830 million general obligation bond whose back-loaded repayment schedule pushed the real price tag to $2 billion.
## Johnson broke the tie
That bond passed 26-23 only after Johnson cast the third tie-breaking vote of his tenure, snapping a 25-25 deadlock to defeat Reilly's motion to delay.
## A promise future taxpayers keep
Ald. Bill Conway, a former investment banker, said pension obligations and existing debt make a higher consensus bar reasonable for anything new.

> When we borrow, we are making a promise that future taxpayers and future City Councils are gonna be required to keep.
## One step above junk
Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson backs the three-fifths bar, pointing to an S&P negative outlook on CPS and city debt that grew 32.8% to $29.2 billion by 2023.

> This isn't a political thing. This is math.
## Key takeaway

Chicago borrowing would need 30 Council votes instead of 26, handing 20 members the power to block new debt.