Kane County to ask voters for a sales tax

Kane County voters will be asked to weigh in on whether the county should create a new sales tax to help pay for its expenses.

However, the question will not appear on a ballot until the consolidated election in April.

The county board voted on Sept. 10 to seek permission from voters to establish a .75% sales tax on general merchandise. That means buyers would pay three-quarters of a penny for every dollar spent.

The tax would not apply to groceries, medical supplies or titled vehicles such as cars, boats and snowmobiles.

It would be used for public safety, public facilities, mental health, substance abuse and transportation expenses, according to the resolution.

The board approved it 15-4. Republicans Bill Roth, Gary Daugherty and David Young, and Democrat Mohammad Iqbal voted against it.

Five board members had left before the vote was taken, which happened roughly five hours into the meeting.

If approved, the tax would raise about $51 million a year, according to Kathleen Hopkinson, executive director of the county’s finance department.

Public safety and the courts account for more than 41% of the county’s spending, according to the county’s 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

The county board has been wrangling with the issue of how it has been balancing the county budget by drawing on excess reserve money. That excess is over and above the standard 90-day reserve. Hopkinson has warned the board that if it continues to use the excess without curbing spending, the excess will be gone by 2028.

Currently, people buying items in Kane County pay a .75% sales Regional Transportation Authority sales tax on some items, in addition to state-imposed sales tax of 6.25% on general merchandise. Some Kane County villages and cities also impose local sales taxes. There is also a .049% county sales tax on motor fuels.

Another referendum

In the meantime, Kane County voters will decide in November whether to let the Kane County Forest Preserve District increase its operating property tax rate limit.

If voters agree, the tax rate would go from about 45 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation to as much as 74 cents. If the district used the full amount, it could collect an additional 64% in property taxes for operations and land acquisition. Officials say they would use the money to add up to 125 acres of new forest preserve a year, as well as for projects that could include adding a wildlife observatory at a forest preserve, expanding its bison project and adding an urban ecology field station in Aurora.

It maintains that by 2027, property owners would be paying less property taxes overall to the district, as the district finishes paying off some debt.