Oak Forest Business Owners, to Customers: 'Please Don't Go'

Some Oak Forest residents angered by a are swearing that they will be spending their money elsewhere.

Local business owners have one thing to say: Please stay.

"Businesses don't want to lose our customers over this," said Susan Khattab, owner of FullServ Auto. "Talk to your businesses. Negotiate."

Khattab is one of several owners hearing residents vent their frustration over the higher tax. The tax applies to all tangible personal goods, excluding nonprepared foods, prescription drugs and vehicles. The additional 1 percent ups the total Oak Forest sales tax to 9.25 percent—a number high enough to send away shoppers and rank it among the highest in the South Suburbs.

But Khattab won't let her customers go without a fight.

"I'll take a loss on my business, because I'm going to have to lower my prices," she said. "I would try to accommodate to keep prices lower, instead of losing them."

Officials expect the tax could generate as much as $1.1 million in annual revenue, affording the city the funds to rehire two full-time police officers, a firefighter and other employees. The tax will not apply to services, groceries, prescription drugs or licensed vehicles.

The tax was a "last resort" effort to help the city rebound from a $4-million shortfall in tax revenue over the last four years. Short of raising property taxes and cutting more services, Mayor Hank Kuspa contends the tax was the best option.

After 12 years of owning a business in Oak Forest, Michael Kowalczyk of JMD Sox Outlet thought that the worst was over. He's ridden the undulating economy through several years of downturn, to see it level out back to normal in the past year.

Now all that's about to change again, he said. Kowalczyk, who estimates that 80 percent of his business comes from outside Oak Forest, fears he'll see his customer base recede. Kowalczyk sells work and casual wear, along winter wear like brandname Carhartt. He has competitors in other areas and counties, and he knows those customers won't be laden with the same tax.

He's hoping proximity works out in his favor.

"You're going to spend it in fuel, you're going to spend it in taxes," he said, of customers leaving Oak Forest to shop. "It balances out."

A higher sales tax isn't going to solve the city's financial woes, he said, and while his sales might be impacted, he's unsure of the effect on the overall business community. 

"Is it going to hurt the economy? I don't think so," he said. "Is it a pain in the butt? Sure it is."

Khattab, who's been in business at her location at 154th and Cicero for just over a year, worries about the Oak Forest businesses.

"How many more businesses are we going to have open on Cicero Avenue?" she pondered. "Come to me. Give me the opportunity to have your business.

"I'll do what I have to, to keep my business."

Some residents, like Patch reader Scott Johansen, won't let Oak Forest businesses suffer for something out of their control.

"There is no great solution, however, if we start losing the small businesses like eventually it will become a ghost town," he wrote. "People will move out and your property values will go down.

"If we stop shopping and doing business in Oak Forest then more businesses will leave ... By no means does this mean that I support this tax because I do not. Keep in mind however that small business owners like the Wrights did not have anything to do with this. Is it right we make them suffer for it?"

HOW IT COMPARES
How does Oak Forest's sales tax compare to nearby communities?

Country Club Hills
General merchandise: 9.5 percent
Qualifying food and drugs: 2.25 percent
Home-rule sales tax: 1.25 percent

Orland Park
General merchandise: 9 percent (Cook County portion); 7.75 percent (Will County)
Qualifying food and drugs 2.25
Home-rule sales tax: 0.75 percent

Tinley Park
General merchandise: 8.25 percent (Cook County portion); 7 percent (Will County portion)
Qualifying food and drugs: 2.25 percent

Crestwood
General merchandise: 8.25 percent
Qualifying food and drugs: 2.25 percent

(Source: Illinois Department of Revenue)

What did your leaders say about the tax? We know. How do your neighbors feel about the tax?

Want more business and government news about Oak Forest? Sign up for our daily newsletter.