PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Peoria Heights Board unanimously rescinded a local grocery tax on Wednesday.
The move followed Tuesday’s primary election, where 72.6-percent of Peoria Heights voters were against the 1-percent tax on groceries sold within the village.
The non-binding referendum question allowed voters to weigh in on the grocery tax Mayor Matt Wigginton vetoed last fall. Trustees overrode the veto, and then put the question on the March 17th ballot.
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Trustee Nathan Steinwedel said the referendum question allowed them to listen to the residents of Peoria Heights.
“Literally, they’re being taxed to death. And we’ve got to stop at some point. I think that this is extremely important to note and look at. We can’t just continue to say ‘well, the communities around us are doing it, so we’re going to do it,” Stenwedel said.
Peoria Heights’ Save A Lot grocery store is closing at the end of the week, meaning an estimated $125,000 in annual revenue from the grocery tax would have been significantly reduced.
Though she voted with the rest of the board, Trustee Sarah Devore questioned whether rescinding the grocery tax was in the best interest of residents going forward.
“I sincerely hope that we will not have to revisit this down the road. And, I can assure you that I was working with everyone on this board to increase economic development to offset this revenue loss,” Devore said.
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