Mendota comes up just short of its sales tax revenue record

Mendota had a strong retail sales year in 2024 – but it fell a bit short of a record.

Since the last Mendota City Council meeting, the Illinois Department of Revenue released the year-end retail sales totals for municipalities. Mendota ended 2024 with a city-share $1.68 million, thanks to a holiday shopping season that brought the city nearly $140,000.

Neither figure set a record, however. The December total fell a few thousand short of the $145,000 set at Christmas 2023. The yearly total missed the all-time mark of $1.72 million, also set in 2023.

A few extra cents spent at the supermarket will go into city coffers rather than to the state.

Springfield is repealing a 1% grocery tax but left it to the cities whether to impose the tax locally and divert the revenue into the local general fund. Mendota has opted to keep the 1% tax in place when the state-directed portion lapses on Dec. 31.

City Clerk Emily McConville said shoppers won’t notice any difference but she did not yet have an estimate on the new revenue.