Trustee blasts Pritzker as Fox River Grove adds back 1% grocery tax that state’s taking away

Fox River Grove is the latest McHenry County town to enact a 1% grocery tax as the statewide tax ends at the start of next year.

Many municipalities have made the move to a local 1% grocery tax after Gov. JB Pritzker and state lawmakers voted to remove the statewide tax last year. The tax, although implemented by the state, funded local municipalities.

The Fox River Grove Village Board unanimously approved the tax Tuesday.

Trustee Steve Knar had harsh words for Pritzker for ending the statewide tax, saying that he “spends money like a drunken sailor.”

“I think this is typical of the worst governor in the nation, which he is, to play the hero and eliminate a revenue stream for municipalities and let them take the fall from the public,” he said.

The village receives about $175,000 annually from the current statewide tax, Village Administrator Derek Soderholm said in an email to the Northwest Herald.

Multiple municipalities in McHenry County and beyond have signed up to continue the grocery tax, including Algonquin, Huntley and Marengo. Municipalities that wish to continue with a local grocery tax without any lapses in revenue must file an ordinance with the Illinois Department of Revenue by Oct. 1.