As aldermen began to wrap their heads around Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget proposal Tuesday, what lies ahead at City Hall came into focus: another long, uphill battle.

City Council members got their first chance to ask questions and set hard lines as Johnson’s top finance leaders sat before them during the first of a planned month’s worth of budget hearings on the mayor’s $16.6 billion plan . And if Tuesday’s first look shows what’s in store for the negotiations ahead, Johnson’s knotted path to winning a City Council majority could once again draw out the process.

That challenge only grew more complicated away from council chambers when Gov. JB Pritzker came out in opposition to the reinstated $21-per-employee “head tax” on larger businesses that Johnson has proposed to raise an estim

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