Evanston officials are exploring ways to increase its revenue stream as they face a potential deficit in its upcoming 2024 budget.
Councilmember Devon Reid proposed increasing parking fees, long-term care facility fees and the motor fuel tax alongside creating a third-party food delivery surcharge and a delivery fleet fee.
Reid said at the Nov. 27 City Council meeting that these potential fee changes were brought forth to help combat potentially increasing property taxes. He says affordable housing is a priority for him so increasing other costs, such as parking, is a better alternative to increasing property taxes.
“Parking is a service that is provided by the city and I cannot think of another service … that is more heavily subsidized by taxpayers,” Reid said. “We say we want to make Evanston friendly for folks. The way we discuss making Evanston friendly is by giving free (overnight street) parking. To me, making Evanston friendly for families is to make sure folks have housing.”
Reid offered City Council three suggestions — increase parking permit costs by $10, increase by $30 or establish a citywide residential parking utility fee for street parking. Parking permits are currently $30 per year in certain parking districts but are not required citywide, according to city documents. Reid told City Council that neighboring Oak Park has a program similar to the citywide residential parking utility fee he is suggesting. Oak Park’s overnight street parking pass is a minimum of $468 a year citywide with some parking districts costing more, according to Oak Park’s 2022 parking fee schedule.
Fellow City Council members were hesitant to support Reid’s suggestion of a $30, or 100%, parking permit fee increase or the citywide residential parking utility fee. However, Councilmembers Jonathan Nieuwsma and Eleanor Revelle agreed with Reid that parking permits could be increased by $5 to $10 a year. Reid, Nieuwsma and Revelle agreed to work together to sponsor a parking fee increase referral.
Reid’s suggestion to increase long-term care facility fees also gained some support with Councilmembers Nieuwsma, Melissa Wynne and Juan Geracaris supporting the suggestion. The long-term care facility fee charges long-term facilities, such as nursing homes, a $600 annual fee plus $60 per bed, according to a city document. Reid hopes to increase these rates to a $900 annual fee and $90 per bed or to a $1,200 annual fee plus $120 per bed, a 50% or 100% increase respectively.
Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo said he doesn’t anticipate increasing the long-term facility fee would impact these establishments’ residents. However, he said a 100% increase may be a bit high.
“We have to keep in mind we have some facilities that pay upward of $26,000 a year on fees and if we increase it by 100% that might be an exorbitant fee,” Ogbo said. “These are things we might need to consider.”
Reid proposed a one cent increase to the motor fuel tax to increase the total tax to six cents per gallon. This is still lower than Chicago’s tax of 8 cents but higher than Wilmette and Mount Prospect at 4 cents, according to a city document. Councilmembers Nieuwsma and Melissa Wynne also expressed his support but Geracaris said he would not support. Geracaris did not give reasoning behind why he wouldn’t support it.
The proposed 3rd party delivery fee on platforms such as UberEats, GoPuff and Grubhub received opposition from Nieuwsma, Geracaris and Wynne. Wynne and Nieuwsma said restaurant owners spoke against the fee.
The fleet delivery tax, which would impact online sales at companies like Amazon, didn’t get a positive reaction from fellow City Council members at first but many said they were intrigued by it. Wynne and Nieuwsma said they’d be willing to explore it deeper but wouldn’t feel comfortable rushing the process to implement such a complicated tax.
“To me, the delivery fleet fee is really, really intriguing (but) I don’t think it’s ready for prime time as currently conceptualized,” Nieuwsma said. “This is not the first time we have discussed if there is a way we can help Evanston’s small businesses that are losing revenue to Amazon and other online retailers.”
City officials are still exploring its 2024 budget and a vote has been tabled to the Dec. 11 City Council meeting. The increased parking fees, long-term care facility fees and motor fuel tax alongside creating a third-party food delivery surcharge and a delivery fleet fee were only discussed with no official action taken.
Residents spoke expressing frustration with the rising cost of living in Evanston that could potentially extend beyond housing with these fees.
“We can pass (the deficit) on in fees instead of property taxes but that’s just as much of a hindrance,” property owner Eric Passet said. “It drives people away from starting businesses (and shopping) in Evanston.”
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
