Bartlett may cut unpopular electric utility tax in half

Bartlett trustees on Tuesday are expected to decide whether to chop in half the village's controversial tax on electricity use, a rollback that could save the average household about $17 a month.

The village currently receives about $606,000 annually from the tax. It started showing up on monthly ComEd bills about three years ago, drawing the ire of residents and businesses coming out of the Great Recession - and candidates in the 2012 election who thought it was a knee-jerk reaction to the village's bleak financial picture.

"I think it came up at the wrong time," Trustee Aaron Reinke said.

At the time, the village was warning of leaner reserves and looming budget deficits - an expected $1.8 million in the hole by 2014. The then-board opted to institute two utility taxes - one on electricity and another on gas - to raise money. At the same time it eliminated vehicle sticker fees, albeit a less lucrative and stable revenue source.

Since then, however, officials say two factors now allow the village to cut the utility tax: More revenue and cuts to the budget.

On the revenue side, sales and real estates taxes are on the upswing thanks to an improving business and housing market.

The village also has trimmed more than $314,000 in costs from the tentative budget. A building inspector position would be left open, and the village would skip out-of-state conferences, among other cuts, to cover the rollback. The budget, balanced in the operational funds, already calls for keeping seven positions vacant.

"Now we're seeing the light of some (economic) recovery," Mayor Kevin Wallace said. "I think that should be passed onto residents."

Trustees did consider killing the electricity tax entirely in a year under a plan that Reinke, the chair of the board's finance committee, calls "halfhearted" and "clumsy." To make up for the loss of money from the tax, the plan relied on putting employees on a self-insured health insurance plan.

Reinke said the village doesn't know the possible savings or the legality of making the insurance switch. Without the full picture, "you're putting yourself into a corner," he warned.

Trustees also were leery of getting rid of the tax altogether because of fears that Illinois lawmakers will cut what towns receive from the state income tax.

"As much as I would love to see that happen, I don't think it would be prudent because we don't know what will happen in Springfield," Trustee Eric Shipman said.

Still, Shipman said, the village would be making a "substantial step" and "more than a good-faith effort" in that direction by approving Tuesday's measure.

The tax is based on the number of kilowatt hours consumed in a month. If approved, each rate tier would be slashed by 50 percent, effective on the June bills.