Blue Island council approves ordinances to retain grocery tax and advance option for sales-tax increase to pay for water needs

Blue Island City Council voted to continue the city's existing grocery tax and approved ordinances that would give the city the option to increase local sales-tax authority as recommended by the Illinois Municipal League, officials said during the council's regular meeting on Jan. 2.

City leaders said the measures are intended to shore up revenue for capital needs, in particular pressing water infrastructure projects that an engineering firm estimated would exceed $20 million for the city's most urgent repairs and service-line replacements. Council members and staff emphasized the step is part of a multi-year funding strategy rather than a single solution.

During a presentation ahead of the votes, a presenter summarized comparative sales-tax metrics for Blue Island and neighboring municipalities to show Blue Island ranks near the bottom in sales-tax rates and discretionary spending per resident. The presenter told the council the city has not raised sales tax in many years and that maintaining current grocery-tax revenue and adding incremental sales-tax authority would help address water-tank maintenance, lead-service-line replacement and other deferred capital work.

Council discussion touched on how any new tax language would be structured in the ordinance. One council member asked whether increases would be adopted in incremental quarter-percent steps up to a 1% cap; staff said the ordinance language allows optional increments but also noted the final ordinance wording contains provisions that the council could discuss further. A separate section of the ordinance referenced routing restrictions for how the revenue should be used; a council member asked whether the ordinance could require proceeds be used for public infrastructure and noted the possibility of providing property-tax credits when appropriate.

Council members also reviewed a written estimate from an engineering firm that listed lead-service-line replacement as a major cost driver; even if that item were removed from the total, council and staff said the remaining infrastructure work would still represent a multi-million-dollar need. The presenter said some water-department expense lines, especially outside-contractor maintenance and repairs following freeze events, exceeded historical averages in 2024 and that bond-principal payments also affected available capacity.

The council voted in favor of the ordinance package on a roll call. The meeting record did not include a full roll-call tally for each individual ordinance in the transcript excerpts provided; vote tallies were recorded by the clerk in the meeting and the clerk announced the motions carried.

Council members asked staff to return with final ordinance language and additional detail on implementation, and city engineering staff (Travis) was scheduled to present more detailed water-infrastructure plans and cost estimates at the February meeting. The council chair also said preserving the current grocery tax and adding optional sales-tax authority would help the city's position for upcoming union negotiations and other operating-cost pressures.

Votes on these ordinances were taken as part of the meeting's consent/ordinance agenda. The council also discussed other agenda items at the same meeting, including streetscape grant agreements, a website services contract, and a routine audit, among others.