Oswego Committee of the Whole Discusses Grocery Tax Continuation, September 2, 2025
Oswego Committee of the Whole Discusses Grocery Tax Continuation, September 2, 2025
The Oswego Committee of the Whole met on September 2, 2025, to review the proposed continuation of the 1% local grocery tax and to provide staff direction on the 2026 budget. The board unanimously approved Trustee McCarthy Lang's request to attend electronically, and no members of the public offered comment. Discussion centered on revenue replacement, budget impacts, potential resident utility credits, and next steps.
Electronic Participation
- Trustee McCarthy Lang was absent and approved to attend electronically. The motion passed by roll call vote: Trustees Hughes, Cooper, Koenig, Novi, and Torres all voted yes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- The public forum was opened and closed with no speakers.
Discussion Items
- Staff explained that the State repealed the 1% grocery tax effective January 1, 2026, but authorized municipalities to adopt a 1% local grocery tax by ordinance. An ordinance must be passed before October 1, 2025, to be implemented on January 1, 2026.
- The local tax would preserve an estimated revenue stream of at least $1 million in 2025 and slightly more in 2026, with at least half a million dollars a year coming from non-residents.
- If the tax is not continued, the village would face a $400,000 general fund deficit in the 2026 budget while maintaining current services and new positions. Cuts could affect police and public works hiring, road maintenance, capital improvement transfers, and other services.
- The required police pension contribution increased 17.5%; with a flat levy rate, $231,000 from the general fund would be needed to meet the pension obligation.
- Trustees emphasized that this would not be a new tax, noting the grocery tax has existed since 1990. They expressed concern about service cuts and rising construction and infrastructure costs.
- Village President Kaufman suggested directing half of the grocery tax revenue to the water and sewer fund to provide a $50 annual credit on resident utility bills.
- Several trustees supported returning a portion of the revenue to residents through water bill credits; others wanted the allocation discussed later during the budget process and favored keeping flexibility for future boards.
- Staff noted that as of June 2025, 219 Illinois communities had passed a local grocery tax, including Aurora, Batavia, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora, Plainfield, Plano, Sugar Grove, and Yorkville.
Key Outcomes
- The board gave staff direction to bring back an ordinance on September 16, 2025, to continue the 1% local grocery tax.
- No decision was made on where the revenue should be allocated. Staff will provide more detailed budget-impact options at the September 16 meeting, with additional opportunities to continue discussion at October board meetings and the October budget workshop.
- The board preferred a clean vote on the tax ordinance separate from a future discussion on revenue allocation, and did not want to codify the allocation so future boards retain flexibility.
Meeting Transcript
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.
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