Oswego Village Board members Tuesday evening will consider whether to locally extend a 1% grocery tax set to expire statewide at the end of the year.

The Illinois General Assembly last summer voted to eliminate the state grocery tax and Gov. JB Pritzker signed it into law in August. The repeal of the 1% state grocery tax will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

Several Fox Valley communities have already approved ordinances to implement a 1% municipal grocery tax to replace the state tax. Those municipalities include Aurora, Batavia, Montgomery, Yorkville, Sugar Grove and North Aurora, Oswego Finance Director Andrea Lamberg said in a report to trustees.

Geneva, St. Charles and Naperville are among other area towns that have approved local extensions of the tax.

Illinois first put in place the grocery tax in 1990 to help fund local governments. Communities have until Oct. 1 to ask the state to continue locally collecting the 1% grocery sales tax on their behalf.

“Implementing a 1% local grocery tax will maintain the village’s revenue base,” Lamberg said.

The tax equates to $1 for every $100 spent on groceries covered by the tax.

The average family of four spends $1,372 per month on groceries, which translates to $13.72 going to the grocery tax, according to Lamberg.

“It is estimated that approximately 50% of groceries sold in Oswego are for non-residents. This keeps the pressure off homeowners and renters and provides at a minimum $500,000 per year of non-resident grocery tax revenue,” Lamberg said.

The Oswego Village Board further has to decide whether the revenues from a potential local grocery tax would remain in the village’s general fund or to direct some or all of the revenue to the Water and Sewer Fund, officials said.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/01/oswego-village-board-to-consider-extending-grocery-tax/