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Burr Ridge continues study of sales‑tax approach to phase out village property tax
Summary
Board members discussed a proposal to replace the village's municipal property tax with a higher non‑home‑rule sales tax (up to 1%), with staff estimating roughly $1 million in net new revenue after abating the village levy; trustees requested more comparative data and agreed to continue the conversation at a future meeting.
Burr Ridge trustees spent a lengthy portion of their July 27 meeting discussing a conceptual plan to phase out the village portion of the property tax by increasing the non‑home‑rule (NHR) local sales tax.
Staff explained the mechanics: the village currently levies a small municipal portion (about 1.6% of a typical tax bill is the village share) and the village could raise the NHR from 0.25% to as much as 1.0% under state law. Staff presented rough revenue estimates: a full 1% NHR could generate approximately $3.2 million in gross receipts, and after replacing the existing 0.25% the incremental net new revenue would be roughly $1 million per year; staff also noted the consultant believed there was an approximate $40 million gap on a separate project. The board discussed practical issues including whether to impose a grocery tax (which many other towns use), the distributional effects of sales tax versus property tax, and county differences in overall sales‑tax rates which affect total tax at the point of sale.
Trustees raised policy concerns: some favored the concept of reducing residents’ property‑tax burden, while others cautioned that sales tax is regressive in different ways and that changes could affect local businesses. Staff explained the legal mechanism would be to retain the levy but abate it so the board could reinstate levy collections in the future should circumstances change. Trustees asked staff to provide comparative tables of total sales tax in peer communities (including grocery‑tax scenarios and business‑district taxes), and to return the item for additional discussion in August or September; no formal action was taken at the meeting.
