Wheeling trustees approve drafting of 2% levy, 4% streaming tax and ambulance fee change to shore up FY2026 budget

The Village of Wheeling Board of Trustees on Nov. 1 reviewed a draft fiscal year 2026 budget and instructed staff to prepare ordinances for a three-part revenue package intended to stabilize future budgets.

Director Smith, the village finance director, told trustees the 2026 proposed budget shows a modest $61,000 surplus under current assumptions but that a mix of one-time recoveries and stronger-than-expected sales tax produced a larger 2025 projected surplus of about $2.3 million. Smith warned the board of growing structural pressures — a loss of a one‑time North TIF distribution in 2028 and rising pension contributions — and recommended a package of measures including a 2% increase in the property-tax levy for 2026, a 4% extension of the village’s amusement tax to streaming services, and aligning the village ambulance fee schedule to the GEMT reimbursement rate.

“This budget continues to reflect those effects of solid policy and practice,” Smith said, noting the village aims to be debt-free on tax-levy related debt by 2030 while absorbing two large balloon payments in the near term.

On ambulance revenue, staff explained one-time billing recoveries had inflated recent figures and that ground emergency medical transport (GEMT) and Medicare/Medicaid payer-mix changes have reduced net ambulance receipts since 2022. Smith said matching the local schedule of ambulance fees to the GEMT-established rate could bring in an estimated $650,000 annually without affecting resident out-of-pocket costs, because insurers would cover the change under Illinois law enacted in 2025.

On streaming, Smith described the proposed tax as an extension of the existing 4% amusement tax to include streaming providers; municipalities that have adopted similar taxes report a wide range of receipts, and Wheeling staff conservatively estimate roughly $350,000 annually at a 4% rate. Smith said that for a household spending about $816 a year on multiple streaming services, a 4% levy would add about $33 annually.

After discussion, trustees voted to have staff draft the three pieces of legislation. The board’s vote to prepare legislation for GEMT and the streaming tax was unanimous; the 2% property-tax levy measure carried 5–1, with Trustee Vito recorded as opposed.

Staff will return with ordinance language and impact calculations (including the village’s previously offered estimate that a 1% levy change would equal about $174,210 to the levy), and trustees indicated they want a clear average-dollar impact for homeowners before final levy action.