Burr Ridge Tax Amasses Money For Improvements

BURR RIDGE, IL – A special business district tax continues to raise money for Burr Ridge.

Three years ago, Burr Ridge trustees imposed an additional 1 percent sales tax. It applies to stores, restaurants and a hotel inside a newly formed business district that includes most of the village's retailers.

The tax money was intended to benefit the district itself with such things as buildings, roads, utilities, demolition of buildings and renovations of existing ones, officials said. The district consists of Village Center, County Line Square and the Marriott.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, trustees were told the tax was expected to generate $670,000 this budget year, which started May 1. That would bring the total to about $2 million.

At the time of passage, the tax was supported by the merchants themselves. Officials contended the improvements would increase the property tax base, thus benefitting schools and parks.

Supporters further argued many customers in the shopping centers and hotels come from outside town, so out-of-towners would bear the brunt of the tax.

The Village Board is considering a policy for allocating money from the account.

Mayor Gary Grasso said he wanted it clear that the Village Board has the final say, not the Economic Development Committee.

"I don't want some developer to act on what the EDC does as if we're a rubber stamp," the mayor said.

Expenditures from the tax account have been minimal over the last three years, an official said.

"The only expenditures to date since the District’s inception were a General Fund reimbursement for the costs of creating the District (as is permitted by State law) and miscellaneous bank fees of a few hundred dollars per year, but the Village has otherwise not substantively made any expenditures from this Fund," Village Administrator Evan Walter told Patch in an email on Tuesday.