By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – The idea of raising the local sales tax is being mulled over by the Normal Town Council.
The council decided to pursue the thought of raising the sales tax by as much as one percent after discussing it during its retreat this summer. City Manager Mark Peterson said this would be contingent on Bloomington also raising its sales tax. The combined revenue could bring in up to $15.5 million annually. That would be used partially to fund various community needs.
“Probably the most important is mental health services, which I think we’ve been talking about as a community for three or four years,” said Peterson. “The county has, I think, admirably taken the lead in trying to identify those needs through their comprehensive study.”
Peterson said as much as $3.5 million a year could go towards mental health care. He added a project such as a new soccer complex could get $1 million annually.
“The clock is ticking on the existing soccer complex on the airport property, and if we’re going to have any chance of getting a soccer complex completed we need to begin now and get funding identified,” Peterson said.
Connect Transit might also see up to $1 million.
“They have several problems, including the lack of service on Sundays, the lack of late night service, and some of the busiest routes they just don’t have enough buses to handle the load,” said Peterson. “By providing more local funding to Connect Transit, they can leverage that and get additional federal dollars.”
Not all the sales tax revenue would go towards these types of projects. Peterson said the cities would keep whatever revenue is left over and use it as each sees fit. He explained Normal would likely see $3.6 million per year; Bloomington could get about $5.4 million.
Peterson emphasized this possible increase would only be to the local sales tax, not the state portion.
“It would not apply to groceries. It would not apply to prescription medicine,” said Peterson. “And it would not apply to vehicles and any items that are titled by the State of Illinois.”
The Town Council will likely discuss the idea at its Aug. 17 meeting.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
