The village should stop imposing its new utility tax on other taxing bodies in the village, a village commissioner said this week.
The 2.3 percent utility tax, in effect since July, has provided more than $1.08 million for the corporate, fire protection and capital projects funds, officials said. That amount is expected to rise to $2.3 million by May, officials said.
Commissioner Michael Gilbert said he was “uncomfortable” asking another taxing body to pay the village for using electricity, gas, water and telephone services.
Although some of the programs funded by the utility tax–including the police department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, or D.A.R.E., in the village’s schools–are well received, the tax takes money away from other areas where it could be better used, said Dan Foote of Elementary School District 58.
But the tax is “a small way of balancing the tax burden among those who use our services but do not live in the village,” Mayor Betty Cheever said. If the tax were repealed, residents would once again foot the entire bill for road work and fire protection.
