Lombard finance committee backs ordinance to repurpose 1% non-home sales tax for public safety buildings

Trustee Dan (first name only in transcript), reporting for the Finance Committee, said the committee "unanimously voted to recommend that the village board approve the proposed change to suspend the current restricted 1% non home sales tax and adopt a new ordinance to implement a broader use 1% non home real sales tax." The committee did not propose an increase in the overall sales tax rate, he said, but would change how the existing 1% may be used.

The recommendation aims to allow the village to use that 1% of sales tax revenue to fund new public safety buildings and "reduce future debt payments," Trustee Dan said. The committee also received "funding options for public safety facilities, including strategies to secure debt service by 2027," Dan added, and said the committee's next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 24.

Why it matters: The committee's recommendation would change the statutory or code-limited use of an existing revenue stream rather than increasing the total sales-tax rate, potentially freeing funds that could be applied to construction or debt service for police, fire or other public safety facilities. The ordinance will be presented to the full Village Board at a future February meeting for consideration; the transcript does not specify the exact February date.

Details and limits from the meeting: Trustee Dan characterized the action as a committee recommendation. The transcript records no board vote or adoption of the ordinance at this meeting; board-level action was not taken. No specific debt amounts, project cost estimates, or projected revenues tied to the repurposed 1% were provided in the recorded discussion. The committee discussion referenced timelines for securing debt service by 2027 but did not provide further fiscal modeling in the transcript.

What remained unspecified in the meeting record: the exact statutory or code language proposed for the ordinance, the formal ordinance number, precise fiscal projections tied to the repurposed tax, and the February calendar date when the ordinance will be presented to the board. The committee reported unanimous support for the recommendation at the committee level, but no Village Board vote occurred on the ordinance during the Feb. 6 meeting.

Meeting context: The finance report occurred during committee reports near the start of the Feb. 6 Board of Trustees meeting. The committee speaker said the change would not increase the current sales tax rate and framed it as a reallocation of the existing 1% for broader permissible uses related to public safety facilities.