The Lake Bluff Village Board votes Monday on a 1% municipal grocery tax, revisiting a question it rejected a year ago as the village's sales tax revenue slides.

The board's Sept. 14 regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 40 E. Center Ave. The agenda also includes a zoning variation for a mixed-use development at 120 E. Scranton Ave. and a collective bargaining agreement with Operating Engineers Local 150.

The grocery tax vote follows a yearlong reconsideration. Illinois eliminated its statewide 1% grocery tax on Jan. 1, as part of the state's fiscal year 2026 budget, and gave municipalities the option to impose their own local version. According to WGN-TV, 656 Illinois municipalities adopted the tax before an Oct. 1, 2025, deadline. Lake Bluff was not among them. The Village Board voted against imposing the tax at its Sept. 29, 2025, meeting.

The revenue loss showed up fast.

At the board's June 22 meeting, Finance Director Bettina O'Connell estimated the village was forgoing $180,000 to $200,000 a year in grocery tax revenue. May 2026 sales tax collections totaled $276,609, a drop of $47,510 (14.7%) from the prior year. O'Connell estimated about half of that decline was tied to the absent grocery tax.

Village Administrator R. Drew Irvin said at the same meeting that the village could request reinstatement through the Illinois Department of Revenue during specific filing windows. Staff had missed an April deadline for a July effective date, Irvin said, but another window would be available.

Not all trustees were eager to act. Trustee Susan Rider said at the June 22 meeting, "I had not personally heard anyone complain that the grocery tax was gone." She wanted a clearer picture of how much of the sales tax decline was grocery-related versus other factors.

Trustee Brian Rener took the opposite view. He said at the June 22 meeting that forgone grocery tax revenue, on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per month, could affect the village's ability to fund housing and infrastructure initiatives. Rener urged the board to weigh reinstatement if the downward trend continued.

The Sept. 14 agenda does not specify the proposed tax rate or effective date. The village's earlier estimates were based on a 1% rate, consistent with the state law that authorized local grocery taxes.

Other agenda items

Trustees will also consider an ordinance amending the planned mixed-use development at 120 E. Scranton Ave. and granting a zoning variation. The board first gave preliminary concept approval for the project in December 2024 and was scheduled to consider final plan approval in February 2025. The agenda does not describe what specific changes the new variation would allow.

A resolution approving a collective bargaining agreement with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, Public Employees Division is also on the agenda. Contract terms were not detailed in the agenda.

Additional items include a report on the Lake Bluff Police Department's Flock Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) system, a landscaping and snow removal contract with TGF Enterprises Inc., a rock salt purchase from Morton Salt, and the appointment of Tullis Mengelkoch to the Sustainability and Community Enhancement Ad Hoc Committee.

The meeting will be livestreamed on the village website and on public access channel 19. Residents can also attend online or by phone at (312) 626-6799, meeting ID 814 1963 9547.