At the River Forest Village Board meeting on June 24, President Cathy Adduci said the state’s recent approval of an increased motor fuel tax will generate “a lot of money, and it will double. This will be significant for us.”Â
On July 1, the state’s tax on motor fuel officially doubled from 19 cents to 38 cents per gallon. The last time the tax had been increased was 1990.
“No one obviously likes to pay more in taxes but the motor fuel tax being doubled from 19 to 38 cents, the village will then receive more money from the state on that as well,” Village Administrator Eric Palm said at the meeting. “That will go into street resurfacing, things like that.”Â
The new legislation also allows non-home rule municipalities within Cook County, such as River Forest, to tax up to 3 cents per gallon.Â
“I’ve always thought it was unfair that non-home rule communities couldn’t impose their own gas tax, so let’s amend that,” Trustee Tom Cargie said at the meeting.Â
Village staff replied that the River Forest attorney was already working on a draft ordinance.Â
Nona Tepper