Gurnee board weighs 0.5% home-rule sales tax to replace stategrocery tax, dedicate funds to water infrastructure

GURNEE, Ill. May 19, 2025

Village staff told the Gurnee Village Board on Monday that the staterepeal of the 1% grocery tax will likely cost the village an estimated $2to2.5 million and recommended replacing that revenue by raising the villagehome-rule sales tax by 0.5%, with half of the new revenue dedicated to water and sewer infrastructure.

The board did not vote. Staff said it will work with the village attorney to update a prior ordinance and return with an ordinance for consideration; any change the village adopts would need to be filed with the Illinois Department of Revenue by Oct. 1 to take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

Why it matters: the finance director presented the proposal as a way to backfill the lost grocery-tax revenue while addressing an identified $3 million funding gap for long-term water and sewer infrastructure. Trustees repeatedly said they favored removing the grocery tax because it directly lowers the cost of food for residents, and they supported using a sales-tax change to shift some of the burden to visitors and…