Glen Ellyn To Discuss Proposed Food And Beverage Tax

GLEN ELLYN, IL — Glen Ellyn officials will be holding a public forum to discuss a proposed food and beverage tax. Residents have the choice of attending two separate sessions of this community meeting — one on August 14 and one on August 15 — to learn more about the proposed 1.5% tax and to voice their opinions.

If the village's food and beverage tax makes its way through the village board, it would affect prepared food and drinks in restaurants and bars and alcoholic drinks sold for consumption at home. The proposal is part of the village's comprehensive capital plan and would be intended to help generate revenue for new developments and infrastructure.

Village officials said in a release that the tax would generate somewhere between $825,ooo to $1.2 million in revenue a year. Some of the developments it could help fund include improvements to the Glen Ellyn Civic Center, street maintenance in the central business district, and repairs to Roosevelt Road, officials said.

After the community meetings, Glen Ellyn officials will host an open workshop on August 27 to further discuss the plan and possible tweaks and changes.

A similar food and beverage tax was recently implemented in Downers Grove. That village's 1% tax went into effect on January 1, 2018 and aims to generate roughly $1.5 million a year.

If realized, the Glen Ellyn food and beverage tax would take effect on March 1, 2019.

The August 14 community meeting will be held at 2 p.m. at the Glen Ellyn Police Station, 65 S. Park Blvd. The August 15 meeting has a 9 a.m. start time at the Glen Ellyn History Center, 900 N. Main St.

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