Clarendon Hills Would Lose $350K Without Grocery Tax

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Clarendon Hills could lose more than $350,000 in yearly income if it fails to keep the local grocery sales tax.

Last year, the state legislature decided to do away with the state's 1 percent grocery sales tax starting next January. Money from that tax has gone to the state, but is sent back to the towns where it is generated.

The state gave towns the power to keep the tax locally.

The Clarendon Hills administration recommends keeping the 1 percent tax. On April 21, the Village Board is set to vote on it.

In a memo this week, Finance Director Maureen Potempa said the grocery sales tax makes up about 30 percent of all the village's sales tax income.

If the board does not keep the tax, the village must raise the property tax levy to the maximum allowable for several years, Potempa said. Under state law, a public body can hike the property tax levy with the rate of inflation up to 5 percent.

"To maintain financial stability and ensure uninterrupted revenue to support essential local services and operations, it is crucial to adopt the proposed ordinance authorizing a local grocery sales tax," Potempa said in the memo.

Westmont and Downers Grove have already approved maintaining the grocery tax, and the majority of DuPage County towns are expected to do the same, she said.

The board is set to discuss the grocery tax at its meeting Monday.