Car Stickers, Utility Taxes: Changes Could Be Coming Next Year

TINLEY PARK, IL — Revenue from Tinley Park's vehicle registrations is declining, and officials are looking into whether they should keep the stickers or turn to other types of taxes to generate money to pay for the village's pavement management program.

The six-year decline is expected to bring in $655,000 in 2020, from $780,000 in 2013. Officials attribute that drop to the increasing number of senior-citizen registrations, which are offered at discounted rates.

Board members said they are no longer certain that method of revenue collection is worth it when it is combined with the cost of operating the program. They will weigh the option against other methods, including utility and consumption taxes.

Discussions will take place in the summer and any changes will go into effect during the 2020 budget year.

The Committee of the Whole is tasked with reviewing the options. One would be maintaining the program as it is today. Tinley charges stickers according to vehicle type and resident age: bus or taxi: $40; motorcycle: $10; senior citizens: $1.50; passenger auto, van and recreational vehicle: $25; transfer fee: $2; trucks larger than one ton: $55; and trucks smaller than one ton: $35.

Another option would be outsourcing the collection to Third Millennium, the only company Illinois that provides the service, at a cost of about $34,800.

The final avenue would be to drop the program and add or increase taxes somewhere else to raise at least $700,000 the board said it needs to keep programs viable.

The committee's records show Tinley would not be alone in doing this. Surrounding municipalities already use food, telecommunications, natural gas and other taxes and revenue sources, and many have dropped their vehicle registration programs.

Those municipalities include:

• Telecommunications: 6%
• Natural gas utility: 5%; natural gas use $0.045 per therm

• Telecommunications: 6%
• Natural gas utility: 3.204%; natural gas use $0.0147 per therm

Downers Grove

• Food and Beverage: 1%
• Local Motor Fuel: $0.015 per gallon

Elmhurst

• Food and Beverage: 1%
• Local Motor Fuel: $0.015 per gallon

Village officials are still researching options, they say. But discussions will resume in the summer. A vote is expected then so that any changes will go into effect by 2020.

Photo via David Allen/Patch.