Bloomingdale to end telecommunications tax on Dec. 30

Bloomingdale will end its 10-year-old telecommunications tax on Dec. 30.

The village board was notified by the Illinois Department of Revenue that its September request to end the tax was granted on Tuesday. The tax on the gross amount of bills for mobile phones, landlines and internet services was slowly being phased out since 2016.

Village President Franco Coladipietro had sought to eliminate the tax, which was enacted in July 2010, as one of his goals while in office.

"I am glad my fellow trustees agree that elimination of this tax is one less burden on the pocketbooks of our residents especially during these difficult times," Coladipietro said in a statement.

Initial rollbacks of the tax started back in 2016, when it was reduced from the original 5% to 3%, and then 1% in 2018.

Before the first cut, the village was collecting $678,000 annually from the tax. At 1%, the village receives approximately $75,000 annually. Residents are estimated to save up to $3 per year by eliminating the tax.

Bloomingdale originally created the tax to address what was then a $1.7 million shortfall in the village's budget. Several factors, such as falling sales tax revenues and flat property tax income as a result of the recession, were causing a gap between expenses and revenues.

Village Administrator Peter Scalera said in a statement on Tuesday the village's budget was showing signs of strength as far back as 2016, making the tax an unnecessary burden to taxpayers.