DeKalb City Council to discuss possible local grocery tax this summer

DeKALB – DeKalb city leaders could soon discuss whether to implement a local grocery tax as the state’s 1% grocery tax expires on Jan. 1, 2026.

Like other municipalities in Illinois, DeKalb is faced with a decision to make about the potential revenue loss.

A share of grocery tax goes to communities across the state annually. In DeKalb, this amounted to an estimated $800,000 in revenue for 2024, city officials have said. No decision on a DeKalb grocery tax has yet been made. The city’s fiscal 2025 budget has already been set. The council won’t vote on a 2026 budget until late in the year.

DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said he believes bringing the matter before the council for discussion will be important. Barnes, who won reelection in April, campaigned in part on promises to ease taxpayer burdens on DeKalb residents.

“If we do not replace that income, it would mean cuts and those cuts could be in police or fire or human services funding,” Barnes said. “It could be cuts to the aggressive street program that we have. A million dollar reduction in revenue is a significant hit.”

“We’re not talking about a tax increase. The only thing we’re talking about is keeping the existing tax in place.”

—  Mayor Cohen Barnes

Neighboring municipalities have already started to take up the grocery tax conversation. Huntley this week enacted a 1% tax, as did Yorkville. Elected officials in Batavia, Oswego, and McHenry said they also plan to debate whether to implement a tax in January.

Typically, the city of DeKalb allocates revenue generated from the state grocery tax toward departmental operations.

Barnes said he doesn’t want to replace the repealed grocery tax, but blames the state for what he said was tying the city’s hands with potential funding loss.

If the DeKalb City Council were to implement a tax, it wouldn’t be in addition, Barnes said, since the state tax is going away.

“The options are we perform cuts and significant cuts with the operations of the city of DeKalb, or we could continue having the grocery tax, which would not be an increase in tax at all,” he said. “It would be keeping what’s already there there.”

When asked where the City Council stands on the matter, Barnes said he believes he has a good idea.

“Everyone is concerned about the million dollars in lost revenue and what are we going to do about it because we realize what we’re talking about,” he said. “We’re not talking about a tax increase. The only thing we’re talking about is keeping the existing tax in place.”

Barnes said he anticipates the City Council putting this issue to discussion in the next two to three months.