Aurora institutes grocery tax

Aurora will charge a 1% sales tax on groceries, to replace the state grocery tax that is going away Jan. 1.

The city council approved the tax Tuesday night, in a 7-5 vote.

Aldermen Shweta Baid, Ted Mesiacos, Keith Larson, Juany Garza and Jonathan Nuñez voted “no.”

City finance officials had estimated Aurora would lose at least $4.5 million annually if it did not enact the tax.

The vote came after a discussion about a potential $29 million deficit in the general fund in the 2026 budget.

The state enacted the grocery tax in 1990; it collects and distributes the money to cities and villages.

Alderman Patty Smith said she does not consider the municipal grocery sales tax to be a new tax, as it replaces the state tax. “It is as fair as it can possibly be,” she said.

And Alderman Carl Franco noted many people probably didn’t know they were paying the tax all these years.

Larson said if the council didn’t pass the grocery tax, it likely would have to look at other ways to come up with that $4.5 million, such as through a property tax increase.

“A ‘no’ vote is not going to determine whether we pay that $4.5 million. It is just going to determine how we pay that $4.5 million,” he said. However, he said he heard from many residents opposing the tax, and decided to vote with their wishes.

Mesiacos voted against it because of the burden a tax puts on people, particularly those earning low income.

“One of the biggest challenges I have (in his ward) is on Saturday when I pull out of my driveway and I drive by the (East Aurora) high school and I see a line of cars snaked from the back parking lot all the way around the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry (satellite), trying to get food,” Mesiacos said.

People who pay for their groceries with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are not charged sales tax.