A handful of tax increases proposed to offset a projected 2002 revenue shortfall in Des Plaines cleared a hurdle when aldermen voted 7-1 to approve them, including a hotel and motel tax increase, a restaurant food and beverage tax and a 1 percent package liquor tax.
The taxes, approved in principle Tuesday night, will require first-reading approval during a Sept. 17 City Council meeting.
“These are user fees, they help make the budget work, but we still have a discussion scheduled for Nov. 6 on property taxes,” said City Finance Director Jim Egeberg.
The taxes informally adopted included:
An increase of the hotel and motel tax to 6 percent from 4 percent, expected to raise an additional $400,000 annually;
A new 1 percent package liquor tax projected to raise $85,000 a year;
A new 1 percent tax on restaurant and carryout food and beverages expected to raise about $650,000 annually; and
Building permit and subdivision fee increases projected to raise a combined $58,000 a year.
A plan to increase vehicle sticker fees by $5, to a total of $30 for passenger vehicles, was tabled until Oct. 1 after aldermen ordered further study.
The taxes discussed Tuesday would go into effect late this year, officials said.
The package liquor tax and hotel and motel tax increase face heavy opposition from several Des Plaines business owners.
Walter Fornek, president of Gold Standard Enterprises in Skokie, which runs Binny’s Beverage Depot at 767 Golf Rd., told aldermen the tax could affect plans to renew Binny’s lease, which expires in about 18 months.
“We want to stay here forever,” Fornek said.
Implementing and collecting the tax could cost Binny’s as much as $200,000, he said. Fornek said aldermen unfairly singled out the liquor industry with the narrowly targeted tax.
In other council business, aldermen publicly approved a closed-session resolution to hire Scott Miller as city manager at a salary of $110,000 a year, officials said.
Mayor Tony Arredia said Miller, former city manager of College Park, Ga., is expected to begin work in the next few weeks.
William Schneider has been acting city manager since Wally Douthwaite left the post this year.
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