Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter urged City Council members on Friday to not rule out a property tax increase, arguing that there are ways to protect Black homeowners hit hardest by what he called “out of whack assessments.”

Reiter acknowledged that he urged alderpersons before Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Oct. 16 budget address to avoid layoffs and furlough days that would impact his members, and steered them instead toward a property tax increase.

“We did not lay down the gauntlet and say that property taxes had to be the absolute… But what we did talk about is how other municipalities around Chicago have a larger tax levy than the city does and they fund government less through smaller revenue-drivers and more through their property tax levy,” Reiter told the Sun-Times.

“I

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