Orland Park officials Tuesday night joined the growing list of Cook County municipalities that are passing their own 1% grocery tax before the state eliminates it altogether at the end of the year.
Trustees voted 4-2 to impose the grocery tax that generates about $4.5 million annually and helps pay for needed municipal services.
Starting January 1, 2026, the statewide 1% grocery tax in Illinois will be eliminated. However, this is not an end to the tax itself, but rather a shift in authority, allowing municipalities and counties to impose their own 1% tax on groceries sold within their jurisdictions.
Trustees Bill Healy and Mike Milani voted against the tax.
Mayor Jim Dodge, who was elected in April, said that the previous board “had a chance last year to cut $4.5 million from the budget and didn’t do it.
Dodge said the “tax wasn’t eliminated but shifted from the state to the local municipalities. The (previous) board punted (the issue) until after the (April) election.”
“If they were that determined not to need this tax they could have cut the 2025 budget,” he said.
The 1% tax applies to “food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold.” This includes most items found in a grocery store, but excludes items like candy, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, and prepared foods for immediate consumption, which are taxed at the higher general sales tax rate.
For Orland Park residents and those residents who reside in towns that reinstate the tax, there will be no change in their grocery bill, as they are already paying the 1% rate.
Shoppers will only see a reduction in price if their municipality chooses not to implement a replacement tax. Neighboring Palos Park and Palos Heights have also voted to keep the grocery tax in place.