PEORIA — After an overwhelming rejection by voters Tuesday night, the Peoria Heights Village Board moved Wednesday to reverse course and reject a grocery tax.
Residents in Peoria Heights, in a non-binding vote, moved to inform the Village Board by a margin of 72.5% to 27.4% to not create a 1% tax on groceries in the village.
The Village Board had previously voted 5-1 to implement a grocery tax, putting them in line with surrounding communities such as Peoria, Pekin, Washington and East Peoria. That tax was then vetoed by village Mayor Matt Wigginton, and following more debate by the board, they agreed to put it on the ballot for voters to weigh in.
Voters decisively struck down the idea of a grocery tax, and on Wednesday night the Village Board unanimously moved to kill the idea ahead of an April 1 deadline implemented by the state to make a decision.
“It was really beneficial to hear from the residents, they came out in droves,” board member Beth Khazzam said Wednesday night. “We have all been elected up here to represent our constituents and their desires but also to do what we feel is best for our citizens now and into the future. I am very well aware of prices rising and the increasing difficulties of families to manage and I am very sympathetic to this.”
Khazzam went on to say that she was not convinced that the 1% tax would alleviate the burden of village residents, especially given the Save-A-Lot grocery store in the village is closing.
“This means the estimated $125,000 annually that we receive from the grocery tax is being spent in our community from businesses that are on War Memorial Drive and the one remaining grocery store, Alwan’s. Presumably this tax is being generated not by Peoria Heights residents but from visitors,” Khazzam said. “I fear our residents will be forced to shop in surrounding communities that do charge the 1% tax and therefore will not be benefitting from the reduced grocery tax and also not benefitting from the revenue that is used to pay for public infrastructure and other things in our community.”
Khazzam and all other trustees ultimately voted to nix the tax.
Wigginton, who made a campaign promise to not implement the tax, celebrated the vote on Tuesday night.
“That’s a pretty resounding opinion from the people of Peoria Heights that their groceries are far too expensive as is and an unnecessary additional tax as is when we’re running a $400,000 surplus over a $6 million budget, it’s just unnecessary,” Wigginton told the Journal Star on Tuesday night. “I think as I’ve been saying all along, just because you can tax doesn’t mean you should, and I think the voters have agreed.”
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: After rejection by voters, Peoria Heights makes decision on grocery tax
Reporting by JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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