 Since
then there has been a bit of confusion and
concern expressed by local citizens who
noticed the tax but couldn't identify why
they were being charged more.
Chuck Conzo, treasurer for the city of
Lincoln, said Tuesday evening that he and
members of the city clerk's office had
fielded several calls regarding the tax.
On Wednesday, staff at the Lincoln/Logan
County Chamber of Commerce office said they
too were receiving calls about the increased
tax.
In a February 2011 meeting of the
Education Cooperation Committee, Regional
Superintendent of Schools Jean Anderson
stated, "if it isn't taxed now, it won't
be," and that may be the best way to begin
understanding the new tax.
Prior to the first of the year, the total
sales tax charged on consumable items in
Lincoln was 7.5 percent. This tax was
applied to items such as paper products,
clothing, cigarettes, alcohol, soda, candy
and other convenience items.
The things it was not applied to included
groceries, which is locked in at only 1
percent by state law, medications and other
service-oriented costs where tax does not
apply.
When the education committee was
promoting the tax, they stated clearly the
tax would not affect these items, nor would
it affect motorized vehicles, farm equipment
and farm supplies.
The tax does apply to food purchased in
restaurants or fast-food stores, but it
doesn't apply to rates paid for motel or
hotel rooms.
Now that the tax is being collected, the
next questions to come to mind might be how
the money is distributed in Logan County and
how the various schools in the county will
use the funds.
When sales tax is collected at the point
of sale, retailers are obligated to remit
the entire amount to the state of Illinois.
The state keeps its share of the tax and
distributes the rest back to the various
taxing bodies, such as the city, or in this
case, the schools.
The taxes are remitted to the state
monthly, and generally speaking, the state
redistributes the money within 90 days.
When the committee was working on the 1
percent tax for Logan County, it was
estimated that while the tax would begin to
be collected Jan. 1, the first payment to
the schools would not occur until April.
After that, payments should be made by the
state on a regular basis.
When the money is distributed, it will go
to Anderson at the Logan-Mason-Menard
Regional Office of Education. She will have
a formula for dividing the funds, based on
the student population of each school. With
the formula in place, checks will then be
issued to individual school districts.
Once the schools have the money, it
cannot be used for the daily running of
their schools. The money must be earmarked
for building repairs, renovation or
construction, and it can also be used to
make payments on existing school bonds.
Simply put, bonds are loans secured by
property tax levies. When schools need to
make upgrades to their facilities or
encounter major repairs that have to be
made, such as complete heating and boiler
systems, these bonds, funded by property
taxes, are used to pay the bill.
In February and March of 2011, the
committee along with the chamber hosted
public meetings to explain the sales tax and
justify the need for this type of revenue.
Schools throughout the county have a
laundry list of work that needs to be done
on their facilities, ranging from new
heating systems, to energy-efficient
lighting and windows, and even new roofs and
in some cases new buildings.
The long-range plan for the revenues
received from the 1 percent tax is to be
able to fund these types of projects without
taking out bond loans and without increasing
levies on property tax.
In addition, in some cases, property
owners may even see their taxes go down as a
result of the new sales tax.
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During a meeting at the Lincoln Community
High School in March, LCHS District
Superintendent Robert Bagby said the LCHS
board had put in writing that they will
lower their property tax levy when the sales
tax takes effect.
At that meeting, it was also noted that
West Lincoln-Broadwell had made a similar
pledge.
Mount Pulaski schools pledged to use half
of their sales tax revenue to lower property
taxes and the other half to do some new
construction or renovation of the oldest
sections of the high school.
Superintendent Mary Ahillen of District
27 said there is a great deal that needs to
be done in several of the schools she
oversees. With the sales tax in place, she
said the work could be done without raising
property taxes.
Chester-East Lincoln School
representatives said they would first have
to use the money to pay for a boiler
project. Once that is done, they too
promised to work to reduce their property
tax levy.
In addition to seeing a decrease in their
property taxes, Logan County residents will
also benefit from the fact this county draws
in a large number of people each year who do
not live here but do spend money here.
With Interstate 55 on the outskirts of
Lincoln, the number of drivers who pull off
the highway is enormous. When they pull off,
they visit the local gas stations and
convenience stores. They purchase chips,
soda and other taxable items. They may visit
one of the drive-thru restaurants for a meal
to-go or stop in at any one of several
restaurants in the area for a relaxing meal.
Each dollar they spend in Lincoln will
support Logan County schools.
When folks come in for the annual Lincoln
Art & Balloon Festival, visit any of the
several tourist sites in Lincoln and Mount
Pulaski, or attend any activity in
Hartsburg, Emden or Elkhart, the money they
spend will be taxed, and that tax will
support the Logan County schools.
When the committee was working to pass
the referendum for the tax in April of 2011,
this was one of their key selling points. In
public meetings, they presented statistics
about dollars spent by visitors to the
county and showed that in the end the
revenues recovered from the tax would far
exceed anything that could be levied on
property tax, due in large part to these
out-of-town visitors.
The 1 percent sales tax is being used in
Logan County according to Illinois state
laws as provided in the county school
facility occupation tax, 55 ILCS 5/5-1006.7.
To read the law in its entirety, follow
this link:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/
fulltext.asp?DocName=005500050K5-1006.7.
[By NILA SMITH]
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