The Evanston City Council voted preliminarily last week to create a 1% grocery tax in order to avoid a property tax or cuts in city services when the state tax expires at the end of this year. Without the grocery tax, which Mayor Daniel Biss has said he will veto, the city would lose an estimated $2.5 million in revenue per year, sources said.

Evanston joins a growing number of Illinois municipalities that have voted to implement a grocery tax after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill that eliminated the state tax but allowed municipalities to create a tax of their own to make up for the lost revenue.

Since August, more than 450 municipalities have created a tax of their own, according to Evanston city staff. Skokie, Northbrook, Glenview and Morton Grove are among them.

The City Council vote

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