Oak Lawn is considering waiving business license and liquor license fees this year as a way to support its businesses and restaurants.

The proposal is estimated to cost the village about $600,000 in lost revenue.

“We talk about how pro-business we are,” Village Board member Ralph Soch said. “We want our businesses to thrive. We want them to stay here and we want to attract businesses to Oak Lawn. This is just one small step in helping out our Oak Lawn business owners.”

Soch and board member Paul Mallo proposed waiving fees for business licenses, liquor licenses, tobacco licenses and the amusement fee for games of skill, such as arcade games.

The cost of a business license in Oak Lawn varies, depending on the type and size of the establishment.

Bakeries, banks, dance studios and other businesses with up to 1,500 square feet of space pay $75 a year. The fee gradually climbs to $965 for offices, stores and manufacturing businesses up to 100,000 square feet, and then higher for larger spaces.

The Village Board discussed the idea at a special meeting Thursday and is expected to vote on the waiver at its July 12 meeting, with some board members, such as Bud Stalker and Mayor Terry Vorderer, asking for more information.

Mallo said the fee waiver follows through on what Vorderer talked about during the mayor’s state of the village address at the beginning of the year, that the Oak Lawn Chamber of Commerce and its businesses are the engine that drives the village’s economy.

Waiving one year’s license fee would be “true money they get to put in their bottom line,” Mallo said.

He and Soch had the finance department calculate how much revenue would be lost through the waiver.

The estimated $600,000 “is not pennies, this is big-time money,” Mallo said.

But Village Manager Thomas Phelan said it appears the village budget could withstand the loss. Phelan noted the village increased its home rule sales tax from 0.75% to 1.25% this year, and said those revenues are showing significant increases.

“Businesses have been doing well,” Phelan said, but noted all that could change.

“Everything could come to a screeching halt,” he said. “Which is not a reason not to do it, it’s a reason to do it, because our businesses are going to feel the pinch long before we do.”

Vorderer said he envisioned reducing, not eliminating, the license fees this year for members of the Chamber of Commerce, and not waiving liquor licenses fees, because they are substantial.

But Vorderer said he is not opposed to Mallo’s and Soch’s proposal, if the village can afford it.

Phelan said businesses with liquor licenses would benefit more than a small retail shop that pays only a $75 annual business license.

The village charges an initial fee of $6,250 for most categories of liquor sales. Annual renewal of a commercial liquor license ranges from $1,500 for convenience stores and wineries and distilleries that make and sell alcohol on the premises to $3,187 for a hotel, motel or place with live entertainment.

But restaurant and bars provide the village with more sources of revenue through food and alcohol sales and video gaming taxes, Phelan said.

The fee amnesty would be for one-year only and would not apply to video gaming licenses, he said.

Any businesses that already have paid their license this year would have next year’s fee waived instead.

The village also is revising its entire business license process to make it easier to use and understand and likely less expensive for businesses in 2023 than what they pay now, Phelan said.

Some of the licensing fees have not been raised since 2006, based on the fee schedule on the village website.

“Our business licensing fee structure is, frankly, outdated and overly complex,” Phelan said in an email.

Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter.