Residents of Arlington Heights could soon pay a tax for the use of streaming services, under a budget proposal that is considered by the village council.
AP
Your Netflix account in Arlington Heights will soon contain a new tax on Village Hall.
Village officials are considering an extra costs for streaming services to help staff to finance a fifth fire brigade ambulance that hits the streets this year, in the midst of increased call volumes.
In the meantime, some village managers have pushed back this week whether they should retain a 1% message tax. The state will stop taking in at the end of the year.
Talking about taxes comes when leaders of the village department at the end of the year kick off the annual budget planning process for discussion and approval by the village administration.
The proposed streaming tax of 5% would help to increase the fall in the cable ranchise costs and the income from telecommunications tax. Civil servants say that cutting cord has been correlated with cuts in the turnover that the village receives, from around $ 5.5 million two decades ago to just less than $ 3 million today.
At the same time, village leaders claim that streaming services still require the use of government rights for cable lines or repeater stations to deliver entertainment to residents and companies.
“We still have to maintain that, and it has to be treated every time they do the tear and work,” said Village Manager Randy Recklaus on Monday evening during a management commission meeting.
Mayor Jim Tinaglia added: “We really couldn’t reclaim what we got before that industry changed. It’s just important to keep that in mind before someone complains:” Well, why a new tax? ” You have just received a break because it has changed. “
Jim Tinaglia
Under a hypothetical scenario, a resident who subscribes to Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Peacock, Hulu and YouTube TV would pay an annual tax of $ 41 to the village with commercials. Without commercials the tax would be $ 61, village officials estimate.
It can mean $ 500,000 for Village Cash per year to cover the personnel costs of six paramedics to man the ambulance.
The village will budget $ 1.12 million for the new positions next year, while this year is planning to pay $ 292,000 in overtime for current paramedics who work on the new ambulance during peak times. Financial director Melissa Gallagher said that a minimal increase in the real estate tax could also be necessary, because the ambulance will be online completely online in 2026.
Gallagher already estimates a levy of 3.63% this financial year – usually due to losses in investments in pension funds for police and firefighters.
Gallagher and Recklaus have also recommended that the board will hold the 1% supermarket tax that would otherwise end in the entire state at the end of the year. They say that losing the tax would create a budget gap of $ 1.3 million and could lead to reductions of the service tax and increase real estate tax.
“Shopping of households would be very moderate, but for us it would be a pretty big hole,” Gallagher said.
Without the supermarket tax this can mean an increase in the real estate tax of 7% for homeowners, village officials predict. Without the supermarket tax and new streaming tax it can be an increase of 8.25%, they said.
Melissa Gallagher
But Trustee Wendy Dunnington suggested that the village tapped other possible sources of income, such as loads on plastic bags, gambling or short -term rental, or the use of reserves.
“It really makes a big difference for families and people with a fixed income,” she said about the supermarket tax. “You can choose whether you have Disney or Netflix, but you can’t choose whether you are going to buy food or not.”
Wendy Dunnington
Trustee Bill Manganaro agreed, while Tinaglia asked the village staff to come up with a list of “selected” alternative taxes such as alcohol and tobacco for the board to debate.
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