La Grange Park trustees are weighing a sales tax reshuffle that would quietly touch just about every purchase in town. The plan on the table would trim a quarter point from the extra 1% sales tax now charged in four business districts, then tack on a new 0.25% sales tax across the entire village. Officials say the move is meant to broaden the tax base, including online and remote sales, and give the village more flexibility by freeing up some district dollars for General Fund uses. A final vote is slated for the board’s July 28 meeting at Village Hall.
At a July work session, trustees walked through a five-ordinance package that would dial back the four district levies and layer in a villagewide non-home-rule tax, according to the Chicago Tribune. The package calls for one ordinance cutting each district’s 1.00% business-district tax to 0.75%, and a separate ordinance creating the new 0.25% villagewide rate. Trustee Bob Lautner, who chairs the finance committee, told the Tribune the idea emerged during fiscal-year budget talks and that no trustee voiced opposition during the work session.
Numbers and timing
The village’s FY 2026/27 budget spells out the calendar and mechanics. Staff plan to send the required filings to the Illinois Department of Revenue by October, with the new structure taking effect January 1, 2027. For the remainder of FY 2026/27, the budget estimates about $53,000 in additional General Fund revenue from the villagewide tax and reflects the business-district rate dropping to 0.75%. Village officials frame the plan as a rebalancing of how local sales tax dollars are collected and used, not as a net tax hike on residents.
Which corridors would change
The shift would touch the Village Market business district and three stretches along 31st Street: 31st and North La Grange Road, 31st and Barnsdale (amended), and 31st and Maple Avenue. Those corridors have helped bankroll streetscape upgrades and redevelopment efforts. The village’s financial prospectus notes that the business-district tax first kicked in back in July 2017 and tracks how those receipts have been funneled into local improvement programs and development agreements. The documents detail fund balances, past transfers and spending on items such as signage, engineering work and façade projects.
State law limits how districts work
Illinois law caps a non-home-rule municipality’s business-district retailers’ occupation tax at 1.00%, and it must be set in quarter percent, or 0.25%, increments. That legal structure is why La Grange Park’s proposal trims each district by exactly one quarter point instead of by a smaller amount. Illinois Department of Revenue guidance lays out the 0.25% increment requirement and the 1% ceiling on business-district taxes.
What trustees said and what happens next
As the Chicago Tribune reports, Lautner said the quarter-point shift grew out of budget discussions and argued that moving that slice to a villagewide levy would help the village capture more remote and online sales. The package, aired at a work session earlier this month, drew no negative comments from trustees and is expected to come up for a vote at the July 28 board meeting. The session is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at La Grange Park Village Hall, 447 N. Catherine Avenue.
What it could mean for projects and businesses
Business-district revenues have been the go-to pot of money for branded signage, engineering work and façade grants, so dialing back those receipts would change the calculus for future corridor projects, even as the General Fund gets a modest bump. The village’s financial prospectus and budget book lay out past transfers and line-item spending tied to the districts, and property owners and business groups are likely to focus on whether any existing development agreements will be revisited. If the board signs off, the move would widen the tax base yet shrink the dedicated accounts reserved for specific corridor improvements.
Board packets, the budget book and final ordinance language are expected to be posted ahead of the July 28 vote. Residents and business owners who want to track the decision can review those materials, sit in on the meeting in person or watch for post-meeting minutes and future budget updates.
