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ALTON – Members of the Alton City Council voted 5-2 on Wednesday to create an ordinance imposing a 1% local sales tax on groceries to replace a state grocery tax expiring in 2026.
The vote tally remained unchanged from Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. Voting against the resolution to create the grocery tax ordinance were Ward 1 Alderman Chris Bohn and Ward 3 Alderman Michael Velloff, with all other City Council members voting in favor.
The State of Illinois has imposed a 1% sales tax on groceries since 1990, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to local municipalities. To offset significant revenue losses when the state grocery tax expires in 2026, the Illinois General Assembly has allowed each municipality to replace the state tax with local 1% sales taxes on groceries and grocery “services.”
Alton Comptroller Debbie Dunlap previously estimated that allowing the grocery tax to expire would result in an annual loss of $400,000 to the city’s General Fund. Imposing the local grocery tax would have a neutral effect on grocery prices, as it would simply replace an already existing tax.
With the resolution approved, the item will come back to the City Council in the form of an ordinance, which will receive a first and second reading at future City Council meetings before final approval. If the ordinance is approved and adopted into the City Code before Oct. 1, 2025, the city can start collecting its own 1% sales tax on groceries beginning on Jan. 1, 2026.
Alton would then join several other communities across the Riverbend region which have passed similar local grocery tax measures in recent weeks, including Jerseyville, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, and Wood River.
A full recording of the June 11, 2025 Alton City Council meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
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