Fox River Grove trustees direct staff to draft 1% non-home-rule municipal sales tax ordinance

The Fox River Grove Board of Trustees on Aug. 19 instructed staff to draft an ordinance establishing a 1% non-home-rule municipal sales tax, a measure proponents said would align the village with most neighboring communities and provide additional revenue options.

Administrator Soderholm told trustees that staff had evaluated several sales-tax and revenue-offset options and found that 20 of 23 neighboring municipalities levy a local sales tax. The analysis presented options that could be paired with reductions or elimination of some existing local taxes and fees to reduce the burden on residents and businesses.

Trustee Knar moved to direct staff to prepare the ordinance; Trustee Wall seconded. In a roll-call vote, Trustees Hester, Joseph, Knar and Wall voted yes and Trustee Migdal voted no. The motion passed 4–1. The board’s vote was a direction to draft the ordinance; no final tax was adopted at the meeting.

Supporters said the step was intended to give the village a policy option for balancing revenues while retaining the flexibility to adjust which local charges would be reduced. Trustee Migdal was the lone dissenting vote but did not make a public motion to block staff work; he recorded a “no” on the roll call.

The next step is for staff to prepare ordinance language and supporting materials for consideration at a future meeting, where the board would decide whether to introduce and, if so, adopt the tax. Administrator Soderholm’s presentation and the motion were recorded as direction only, not adoption of a tax.