Naperville is making a push to give the public information about its proposed half-percent city sales tax by updating its website and offering to meet with anyone wishing to discuss the city’s financial situation.
The move comes after the City Council directed staff to draw up documents to institute Naperville’s first-ever municipal sales tax, tentatively set at a half-percent.
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The tax issue is expected to come up for a City Council vote in September and would bring the sales tax on general merchandise purchases in the city to 7.75 percent.
The municipal tax is permitted without voter approval through the city’s home rule authority and is part of a plan to remedy budgetary imbalances. Income derived from the new revenue stream would be earmarked for funding capital projects and paying off debt, city officials said.
A shortfall in the city’s 2016 budget, projected at $6.8 million, is tentatively being addressed separately, most of it through a proposed increase in residents’ garbage fees. Expected to cover $5 million of the deficit, the proposed garbage fee hike would bring residents’ monthly payments from $2 to $12.35 if officials opt to add it to their utility bills. A directive for departmental spending reductions is expected to close the remaining $1.8 million gap.
City Council members were divided on the plans for a new tax when they discussed the issue at length Aug. 18. In addition to Mayor Steve Chirico, council members who voted in favor of the local half-percent for the city were Becky Anderson, Judy Brodhead, Kevin Gallaher and John Krummen. Those opposing it were Kevin Coyne, Patty Gustin, Paul Hinterlong and Rebecca Boyd-Obarski.
The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce also has announced its opposition to the city tax. The Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation favors it, however.
“We support the implementation of a minimal incremental and reasonably necessary local sales tax to assist in resolving and addressing both current and future financial needs,” the organization’s board said in a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.
An initial staff proposal calling for a 1 percent local tax met broader opposition, until some adjustments were suggested. The plan to fund renovation of the city’s Chicago Avenue parking deck with the new tax income was taken out of the mix, and the commitment to reduce the city’s outstanding $121.3 million debt by 25 percent and restore its depleted cash reserves, also by 25 percent, was stretched from four years to eight. With those changes in revenue needs the proposed sales tax level was cut in half.
The updated city Web page provides comparative figures for per-capita municipal debt, garbage fees, home-rule sales taxes, property tax rates and other data in Naperville and neighboring communities, as well as background information about financial strategies that also remain under discussion.
The city is also trying an outreach effort to articulate the need for the changes. City staff is available to meet with anyone interested in discussing the financial strategy, according to an internal memo sent Thursday by Finance Director Rachel Mayer and communications manager Linda LaCloche.
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