Tinley Park is studying a municipal grocery tax as it prepares a budget for the coming fiscal year, aimed at offsetting the loss of revenue from a state grocery tax.

Other local communities, including Oak Lawn, have instituted a 1% tax as Illinois ends its own grocery tax.

The proposed Tinley Park budget estimates a grocery tax would generate $300,000 under plans for it to take effect only in the final third of the budget year.

The village’s budget year begins May 1, and the Village Board will schedule a special meeting this month to approve the budget, Village Manager Pat Carr said Wednesday. There are no more regular meetings schedule before for April.

Carr said village officials discussed a grocery tax and it is expected to come before the Village Board in the next month or two.

The Illinois General Assembly last summer eliminated the tax and Gov. JB Pritzker signed it into law in August.

In the face of high inflation, Pritzker said he was ending the tax in part because of its disproportionate impact on low-income families. He left the door open for municipalities to implement their own tax.

The nonprofit group Illinois Policy reports 46 towns throughout Illinois imposed their own grocery tax as of January.

Carr said Tinley Park and other towns will continue to get money from the state’s collection of the tax through the end of this calendar year.

The village’s estimate of $300,000 in revenue comes from money the village would collect between January 2026 and the end of the next fiscal year in April 2026.

“We ar taking over a $3 million hit to our budget,” Carr said due to the elimination of the state tax.He said officials had not yet decided how much the tax, as far as a percentage, would be.

In the general fund, where most village services are financed, the village expects a starting balance of $47.8 million and revenue of $71.5 million from sources including property taxes and sales taxes.

For fiscal 2025, which ends April 30, the village had budgeted general fund revenue of $72.6 million while actual revenue is projected to be $76.6 million.

General fund spending for the coming fiscal year is proposed to be $75.8 million.

For the current budget year, general fund spending was estimated at $71.8 million but is projected to be $61.5 million.

Sales tax revenue for the next budget year is projected to be $26.3 million compared with an estimated $25.1 million this year.

Apart from a state tax on general merchandise, Tinley Park has a home rule sales tax of 0.75%, although it does not apply to groceries or medicine.

The village estimates revenue from video gambling terminals will remain flat, at about $2.1 million.

In the Police Department patrol division, spending for the next budget year is tentatively proposed at $10.8 million versus $9 million in fiscal 2025. The budget anticipates an additional $1 million this year budget for patrol salaries, to $7.2 million.

Spending in the investigations division is projected to be $3 million in the new budget compared with $2.5 million in the current fiscal year.

For the downtown Harmony Square event plaza, which is expected to be ready this year, the new budget anticipates spending of $1.3 million, with about $750,000 earmarked for programs and special events.

North of the Oak Park Avenue Metra commuter train station, the plaza will feature a performance stage and, during the winter, ice skating.