Politics & Government

Village Sales Tax Revenue Hits Record High in 2012

2012 is a "banner year," for the Village of Mokena, as the Village nets more than $4.5 million in sales tax revenue. The money is earmarked for general operating costs and infrastructure work.

Mokena's sales tax revenue reached a record level of $4.5 million in fiscal year 2012.

Village administrator John Downs said “non-traditional retail” businesses such as Ozinga Concrete, the Dunkin' Donuts Distribution Center and Shilling Lumber were a boon for the village.

“We had a big influx of these new businesses and they've had a big impact on the sales tax increase,” Downs said. “Sometimes it may not be obvious to a person who wouldn't necessarily be involved in local government, some of these businesses produce huge amounts of sales tax, while putting very little demand on our services.”

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Downs said about two-thirds of sales tax revenue goes to Mokena’s general operations helping fund city services such as the police department, administration, and building department. The remaining sales tax revenue is used for infrastructure improvements like street repairs, salting and plowing, and sidewalk replacement.

 “What happened was, sales tax was on the rise till about 2009, then the economy started to decline, it took a couple years where [the sales tax] was going in the negative,” Downs said. “But, the last two years, it started to increase, in particular this year being a banner year of $4.5 million, and that's our all-time high. That's including when the economy was really cooking.”

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The sales tax is added at a 1.5-percent rate to the sale of all of goods in the , excluding titled goods, groceries or prescriptions.

Downs is optimistic sales tax revenue for the village will remain strong because of non-traditional retail business and because of programs such as “Shop Mokena.”

"If you go to the store and spend a $100, about $1.50 of that would be returned to the municipality in most cases," Downs said.


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