Buffalo Grove may levy motor fuel tax for road repair

Buffalo Grove village board members are discussing the possibility of creating a local motor fuel tax, to help pay for local street maintenance.

The proposal was raised during a meeting Monday of the village board's Finance Committee.

Village Manager Dane Bragg said Buffalo Grove's street maintenance is significantly underfunded. He said the village is behind about $1 million per year in funding.

"If we don't come up with some options to find more money to maintain the street maintenance program that we have, then we have to look at reducing that level of service," he said.

That means such options as extending pavement life which could lead to higher costs in the future for construction or changing the way the village handles snow removal.

But even if it pursues those options, the $1 million shortfall will remain, due to declining revenues from such sources as income and sales taxes, Bragg said.

"It's not an expense problem. It's a revenue problem," Bragg said.

Bragg said a 3-cent-per-gallon tax would generate $384,000 per year. Those funds would specifically be earmarked for street maintenance, which would cover 38 percent of the shortfall.

At least one trustee was concerned about how the tax would affect consumer decisions at the pump.

Trustee Steven Trilling had questions about the difference in gasoline taxes charged between Lake and Cook counties and also between Buffalo Grove and border municipalities.

Finance Director Scot Anderson pointed out that other communities are having the same discussion about whether to impose a local motor fuel tax.

"(Trustees) ultimately would like to see that the towns surrounding us went in the same direction, so we don't have competition issues," Anderson said after the meeting.