Trustee Hughes here.

Trustee Koenig here.

Trustee Torres.

Here.

Trustee Novi?

Here.

Trusty McCarthy Lang absent.

On that note, um, Trusted McCarthy Lang would like to electronically attend tonight's committee of the whole meeting.

She has submitted the necessary documents to the village clerk.

So I'll accept a motion to approve trustee Karen McCarthy Lang to electronically attend the September 2nd, 2025, Committee of the Whole Meeting.

So moved.

Seconded.

Roll call, please.

Trustee Hughes.

Yes.

Trustee Cooper.

Yes.

Trustee Koenig.

Yes.

Trustee Nelve.

Yes.

Trustee Torres.

Yes.

All right.

Karen, can you hear us?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

We sure can.

Loud and clear.

Thank you.

All right.

First up, we're going to open the public forum.

So if there's anyone wishing to address the board and the public this evening, please feel free to come on down.

All right.

Seeing nobody, we will close the public forum and move on to old business.

We have item E1.

Andrea.

Good evening.

Tonight, staff is looking for direction from the board on bringing back an ordinance to continue the 1% local grocery tax at the local level.

On August 5th, 2024, the state approved the repeal of the 1% grocery tax administered by the state effective January 1st, 2026.

In that same legislation, they approved the authority to implement a 1% local sales tax locally by ordinance, and which would allow municipalities to maintain revenue streams that were previously supported by the state tax.

Municipalities that wish to implement the local grocery tax effective January 1st, 2026 must adopt an ordinance prior to October 1st of 2025 in order to file the necessary paperwork timely with the Illinois Department of Revenue.

The revenue is estimated to be at least $1 million in 2025 and slightly more than that in 2026.

So this keeps some of the pressure off of homeowners and renters by providing at a minimum half a million dollars a year of non-resident grocery tax revenue.

In the materials provided tonight, a map a map was given which shows surrounding communities that have already passed the ordinance at the local level.

And the unincorporated areas in Kendall County and most of Kane County do not have grocery stores.

For next year, the required contribution to the police pension fund increased 17.5%.

Based on the current estimated EAV, if the levy rate were to remain flat next year, in addition to 100% of the levy, $231,000 would be required from the general fund to meet that required contribution.

So putting the additional strain of the increased pension fund contribution combined with the removal of some or all of the grocery tax will result in a deficit in the 2026 budget unless cuts to programs or new positions are made based on where we are right now in the drafting of the budget proposal.

So again, one option is to keep it in the general fund where it's been.

Another option is to direct some or all of the revenue into the water or sewer fund.

Directing the full 1 million dollars could save the typical resident up to about $100 per year on their utility bill.

President Kaufman had made a suggestion to direct half of the grocery tax to the water and sewer fund and to use those funds to provide an annual credit of $50 to resident utility accounts.

Providing the credit, a benefit to that would be that it's very transparent that the residents could see once a year on their bill that they're getting this this $50 credit.

Um it would require some some setup and some additional work on staff side, but it's certainly something that we could do.

So again, that's just some background on the grocery tax.

Uh the main direction staff is looking for today is direction on bringing back the ordinance to implement the 1% local tax and continue that revenue stream.

Um secondly, if that is the direction staff receives, we're looking for direction on where that revenue should be budgeted in 2026.

So I'd be happy to field any questions as the board um discusses the options.

Thank you, Andrea.