Latest news with #AuroraCityCouncil
CBS News
a day ago
- Business
- CBS News
Aurora, Illinois, considers doubling hotel tax
The Aurora City Council will consider doubling the west suburb's hotel occupancy tax at their meeting Tuesday. The current Illinois hotel occupancy tax is 3%. The ordinance Aurora is considering would double that rate to 6% and add a $10 daily fee on rooms. The proposal says the current rate is "at the lower end of the spectrum" compared to their surrounding suburbs, and said doubling the rate would bring in a little more than $3 million a year in tax revenue. The new Hollywood Casino is set to bring another 220 hotel rooms to Aurora. If approved, the new rate would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Aurora City Council to vote on doubling hotel room tax
Aurora is considering doubling its hotel room tax rate, which has not risen since it was first adopted in 1987. The city's Hotel Occupancy Tax rate is currently set at 3%, but many nearby communities have higher rates that are similar to what is being proposed, according to Chief Financial Officer Chris Minick. He estimates that the proposed 6% rate would bring in an additional $1.1 million for the city each year, especially after the opening of the new $360 million Hollywood Casino-Aurora resort. The proposal is set to go before the Aurora City Council for final approval at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, when the council is also set to consider extending a 1% tax on groceries that would otherwise expire statewide at the end of this year. There are currently around 635 hotel rooms within city limits, with an extra 220 expected to come from the new casino resort, Minick told the City Council's Committee of the Whole at its meeting last Tuesday. At its current rate and number of hotel rooms, the city brings in between $550,000 and $585,000 each year, he said. That money mostly goes into the city's General Fund to offset operational costs, Minick said, but the city also uses around $225,000 per year to support the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. The proposed increase of this particular tax has a number of benefits, according to Minick. For example, he said that the tax is mainly paid by people who are not residents of Aurora, and it is discretionary. Plus, people do not typically shop for hotel rooms based on the tax rate, but instead based on how close they are to whatever attraction the person is looking to visit, Minick told the Committee of the Whole. Because of how close hotels in Aurora are to amenities, he expects there to still be significant demand for those rooms, he said. The Hotel Occupancy Tax only applies to the price of the hotel room itself, not to other costs like room service. The proposed changes to the tax not only double the rate but would also add a $10 daily flat fee on rooms offered for free, which Minick said is a common practice at casino resorts. If passed by the Aurora City Council on Tuesday, the new higher rate would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. The new Hollywood Casino resort is expected to open in the first half of 2026, according to past reporting. The proposed Hotel Occupancy Tax rate increase was recommended for approval by the Aurora City Council's Finance Committee earlier this month, though committee chair Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, voted against it. Mesiacos also voted against recommending the local 1% grocery tax for approval at that same meeting. He told The Beacon-News just before Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting that he voted against the grocery tax because it would negatively impact the residents he represents. Illinois first put in place the 1% grocery tax in 1990 to help fund local governments, but it was repealed by a state bill passed last year. However, that bill allowed cities and villages to set their own tax to replace the statewide one, which Aurora is considering doing. Gov. JB Pritzker, who signed the bill, has said the statewide grocery tax hurts poorer people in particular because it takes a larger chunk of their income, according to reporting from the Chicago Tribune. For the same reason, Mesiacos said the tax should be reduced for communities like the one he represents. The grocery tax does not apply to those who receive benefits from the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also called SNAP. However, after the Trump administration's megabill was passed and signed on July 4, many SNAP recipients may receive lesser or no benefits in the near future. Area elected officials criticized the federal tax and spending bill last week, saying it would hurt local residents. Aurora currently receives around $4.5 million in revenue through the grocery sales tax each year, and without those funds helping pay for public safety, road maintenance, public works, community programs and environmental services, the city would likely need to look to alternative funding sources or make cuts to services, city officials have said. And, as pointed out by Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, at Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting, the city has been 'painting a picture that we're fiscally challenged right now.' Mayor John Laesch has made similar comments about the city's finances in the past, and even said during his inauguration speech in May that the city is in 'serious debt,' that his administration needs to get the city's 'financial house in order' and that residents will likely be seeing a property tax increase. The grocery tax is a significant piece of funding for the city, Franco said, and asking residents to pay $1 for every $100 they spend on groceries for the city to get millions of dollars each year doesn't feel like a stretch, especially since other communities are doing the same thing. Cities and villages have until Oct. 1 to approve the local continuation of the 1% grocery sales tax, which would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, just after the tax expires statewide. Many nearby communities have already approved local extensions of the tax, including Montgomery, Sugar Grove, North Aurora, Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles, as have others throughout the Chicago area and the state. Naperville, in contrast, is considering increasing the city's sales tax to compensate for its lost state grocery tax revenue, according to the Naperville Sun.
Chicago Tribune
14-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Aurora considers extending grocery tax that would otherwise expire
The city of Aurora is considering extending a grocery tax that has been in place statewide for decades but is set to expire at the end of this year. Illinois first put in place the 1% grocery tax in 1990 to help fund local governments, but it was repealed by a state bill passed last year. However, that bill allowed cities and villages to set their own tax to replace the statewide one. Gov. JB Pritzker, who signed the bill, has said the statewide grocery tax hurts poorer people in particular because it takes a larger chunk of their income; however, the tax does not apply to those who receive benefits from the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also called SNAP, according to reporting from the Chicago Tribune. Aurora receives around $4.5 million in revenue through the grocery sales tax each year. Without those funds, which help pay for public safety, road maintenance, public works, community programs and environmental services, the city would likely need to look to alternative funding sources or make cuts to services, according to Stacey Peterson, Aurora's director of financial operations. Peterson proposed continuing the 1% grocery sales tax within the city at a meeting of the Aurora City Council's Finance Committee last week. Aldermen on the Finance Committee voted 4-1 to recommend continuing the tax, and now the proposal is set to go before the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday at 5 p.m. There, all the aldermen on the Aurora City Council will have the chance to discuss the item before it goes officially before City Council next week for a final vote. Cities and villages have until Oct. 1 to approve the local continuation of the 1% grocery sales tax, which would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, just after the tax expires statewide. Many nearby communities have already approved local extensions of the tax, including Montgomery, Sugar Grove, North Aurora, Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles, as have others throughout the Chicago area and the state. At the Finance Committee meeting last week, Peterson and Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, stressed that the proposed grocery sales tax would only be a continuation of an existing tax, not a new tax on residents. According to a staff report about the proposed tax included with the online version of Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting agenda, the grocery tax only applies to food that is bought and then taken to a different location to be prepared and eaten. Food that is to be eaten immediately, such as restaurant food, is taxed at the regular sales tax rate of 8.25% plus the Food and Beverage Tax rate of 1.75% for a combined rate of 10%, but is not impacted by the grocery tax, staff said in the report. The city's Home Rule Sales Tax rate of 1.25% does not apply to items covered by the grocery tax, the report said. Mayor John Laesch has been saying that the city is in a difficult financial place. During his inauguration speech in May, he said the city is 'serious debt,' that his administration needs to get the city's 'financial house in order' and that residents will likely be seeing a property tax increase. Aurora officials also believe that the city has been losing $4.3 million in tax revenue each year because of a perceived undercount of the city's population in the 2020 census. A special census was planned for this year to hopefully make up for some of that undercount and secure more funding, but it has been postponed. Last month, the Aurora City Council approved the sale of up to $95 million in bonds for projects that were approved under former Mayor Richard Irvin, some of which Laesch voted against. Those projects included the construction of a relocated Fire Station 9, a new Fire Station 13, the new fire department headquarters building, the RiverEdge Park renovation and the recently-constructed new Public Works facility as well as the roadway improvement project around Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road. That bond issue is expected to have a roughly $9.25 monthly impact on the property tax bill of a $300,000 house, but the city does have the option to use other funds if available to help repay the bonds, Aurora officials have said. In addition to the continuation of the grocery tax, Aurora is also proposing doubling its hotel occupancy tax rate of 3%. That proposal is also set to go before the Aurora City Council's Committee of the Whole on Tuesday.
Chicago Tribune
25-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
New chief legal officer, sustainability director for city approved by Aurora City Council
Two new hires for the city of Aurora were approved by the Aurora City Council on Tuesday, including a new chief legal officer and the city's first-ever director of sustainability. Since Mayor John Laesch took office in May, the city has hired a number of new employees in upper management to replace those who resigned or retired when former Mayor Richard Irvin left office. Following Tuesday's City Council meeting, the latest hires are Yordana Wysocki, the city's next corporation counsel, and Alison Lindburg, who will be taking on a newly-created position as the city's director of sustainability. The two appointments were on the City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting agenda last week, but aldermen did not discuss the matter publicly at that time, according to past reporting. Both hires were approved unanimously by the council on Tuesday evening. Per her resume, Wysocki currently works at Hervas, Condon & Bersani, P.C., an Itasca-based law firm that specializes in local government law and litigation. A partner since 2016, she represents local governments as general counsel, conducts employee misconduct investigations and gives recommendations to local governments on employee discipline and employment policy changes, among other things. She's also the incoming chair of the Illinois State Bar Association's Local Government Section Council and has been involved with local bar associations and The Legacy Project, which promotes women leadership in local government, her resume says. As the new corporation counsel, Wysocki will lead the city's law department, according to past reporting. Per the job description from the city, she'll provide legal advice and counsel to elected officials and upper city management, review contracts and agreements, draft and negotiate agreements for the city and represent the city for legal actions, among other responsibilities. At Tuesday's meeting, Laesch noted that outgoing corporation counsel Richard Veenstra will help with the transition. As for the newly-created director of sustainability job, Alison Lindburg comes from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, where she's currently the director of building codes and policy, according to her resume. In that role, she helps several states and their municipalities implement energy efficiency policies like energy codes, leads research on decarbonization and energy efficiency in buildings, among other duties. According to her resume, she also currently serves on the Illinois Energy Code Advisory Council, Illinois Building Energy Hub Advisory Board, Chicago Sustainable Development Policy Committee and the International Code Council Sustainability Membership Council, of which she is the chair. Per the job description from the city, her responsibilities are set to include, among a number of other things, developing and managing a city sustainability plan, creating a 'public bank or green investment mechanism' for sustainability projects and assisting in updating Aurora's vehicle fleet to 'a carbon-free standard.'
CBS News
24-06-2025
- CBS News
New ordinance in Colorado city will hold neglected property owners accountable
Beginning in early July, Aurora will have a new way of handling neglected homes and buildings in the city. It comes after Aurora City Council adopted an ordinance June 9. CBS According to the ordinance, if a property owner does not comply with requirements to bring their property up to code, it will be done for them at their expense, and it could include hefty daily fines. "I want to see homeowners in Aurora be responsible homeowners," said council member Stephanie Hancock, who represents Ward IV. Since joining city council in 2024, Hancock says she hears from residents every day, many with complains about neglected homes and abandoned buildings in Aurora. "And they were concerned their property values were being impacted," Hancock said of the calls and emails from residents. Having seen some concerning properties -- both residential and commercial -- Hancock decided to take action. She sponsored The Neglected or Derelict Building or Property Ordinance, which is aimed at holding property owners accountable with greater daily fines for continual code violations but with a "compliance first" approach. "This is not about coming down hard on people, you know big brother, 'coming after you because you're not doing what we want,'" Hancock explained. "This is an effort to say, 'Listen, this is your responsibility. We're holding you accountable. We want to help you move forward if you're having difficulties.'" The ordinance was adopted just days after CBS Colorado's reporting on some of Aurora's chronic violator properties. That includes a home owned by Andris Berzins -- one of eight rental homes he has in the city that have received dozens of citations over the last decade, including violations of unlawful storage and not removing trash. Berzins, whose wife, Marsha Berzins, is running for Aurora City Council and co-owns some of the rental homes, told CBS Colorado he doesn't see any issues with his properties. "They decided that I am not good," Berzins said of the city's code enforcement office. Due to repeated violations, Berzins was summoned to municipal court on June 12 and pleaded guilty. As part of a plea agreement, he was issued a $2,650 fine of which he only must pay $300. The remainder of the fine is contingent on Berzins bringing his property up to code by July 22 and staying compliant for a year. "In one way, it is like playing whack-a-mole," Hancock said. Hancock believes there is a concerning trend of some property owners treating code violation fines as a sort of, "routine cost of business," not an incentive to comply with city code. So, as part of the new ordinance, Hancock said property owners could be slapped with $999 daily fines. "We want to make it painful if people refuse to come into compliance," Hancock said. "It's really an effort to just make our community better." The ordinance, as described in city documents, is a "last resort measure" to empower the city to seek court intervention when a property has fallen into such disrepair that it poses a serious threat to the health, safety, and well-being of those around it. "I don't believe it's the city's function to get involved in real estate," Hancock added. "But what we want is for people to care about the community that they live and work in and do business in, and be good stewards of the properties that they have."
