Villa Park seeks sales tax increase

Villa Park is going back to voters for a second time to ask for a .5 percent increase in the village's sales tax to pay for road repairs.

The village board voted Monday to put the sales tax increase - from 7.75 percent to 8.25 percent - on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Villa Park is in "dire, dire need" of funds to fix its worst streets and to cover the village's share of such projects as rebuilding the Ardmore Avenue bridge, Village President Tom Cullerton said.

The sales tax increase would generate up to $1.5 million annually.

In February, Villa Park voters turned down a proposal to borrow $27.5 million to reconstruct, resurface or patch 54 streets throughout the village and complete sewer repairs. The bond issue would have cost the owner of a $250,000 house an extra $199 in annual property taxes for 20 years.

Also on the ballot was the .5 percent sales tax increase to pay for ongoing road maintenance. Voters turned that down, too, but by a slightly smaller margin.

Village officials are hoping voters will be more likely to approve the sales tax increase if it's the only question on the ballot.

The proposed sales tax would put Villa Park on par with neighboring Lombard, where the sales tax is 8.25 percent, except for a small section of the village near Yorktown Shopping Center, where it's 9.25 percent. Sales tax is 8 percent in Elmhurst and 7.75 percent in Oak Brook.

If voters approve the increase, the money could be used for a few high-priority projects, such as Kenilworth Avenue between Ardmore and Harvard and Michigan Avenue from St. Charles to Division.

"It's a question of catching up on some of the streets that sorely need to be addressed," interim Village Manager Eric Dubrowski said.