Downers Grove Puts 1% Food and Beverage Tax on Table During Village Meeting

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — Downers Grove council members are mulling over a 1% food and beverage tax to help recoup revenue that has consistently dropped over the last few years. The proposed tax would affect food and drink purchased at restaurants and pre-packaged foods sold in grocery stores, council members said.

During a village council meeting on May 22,columns of numbers and statistics covered three white boards to outline expenses, revenue and proposed revenue since 2008. Gesturing to these numbers, village Manager David Fieldman pointed out that much of the village’s revenue loss is related to a steady decline in revenue from sales tax. Fieldman attributed this loss in revenue to the increase of online shopping. “Sales tax, we think, will continue to drop due to changes in how people shop and where they shop, more online activities,” Fieldman said during the meeting.

He also emphasized that the village council’s ongoing efforts to control expenses. Fieldman pointed out that in the past nine years, expense management has hinged on staff reduction in public safety and public works departments. Citing statistics scrawled on one of the white boards, Fieldman added that police staffing has been cut by 22%. Still, there are some expenses that are inevitable, including costly contributions to public safety pensions, which Fieldman said was the top contributor to village expenses.

To mitigate flagging sales tax revenue and steady expenses, the village council is proposing a 1% food and beverage tax for Downers Grove residents. Lombard, Elmhurst and Naperville currently impose similar taxes, Fieldman noted. He also mentioned the potential revenue from a food and beverage tax. “If we had [a 1% food and beverage tax] on our books in 2016, it would have generated $1.6 million in revenue,” he added.

Downers Grove Mayor Martin Tully stressed that the proposed food and beverage tax is not intended to add revenue, but rather to act as a replacement for recent losses in revenue. Echoing Fieldman’s sentiments, Tully said, “We’ve got a hole that’s been created by the shift in economic activity.”

The hope is that the proposed 1% beverage tax will help to fill that steadily deepening hole.

>>Patch file photo