The sales tax projections for the first half of 2018 show that Joliet is on track to bring in more revenue than it had the last four years.

At a recent meeting of the Joliet Finance Committee, staff provided an update on the sales tax collected and remitted to the city.

“It has been trending up,” said Jim Ghedotte, finance director for the city of Joliet. “We are trending about six percent more than what we budgeted. So, hopefully, it continues.”

Funding for fiscal year 2018 shows that the sales tax represents an estimated 26 percent of Joliet’s general fund budget.

“It’s the second-largest source [of revenue] for the city,” Ghedotte said. “The largest source is charges for services.”

Ghedotte said a lot of the city’s revenues are down in value, but they are not the larger funds that make up the budget.

The amount of sales tax collected last year amounted to approximately $47 million, or an increase of $259,049 over the prior year.

Revenue is collected on a monthly basis.

There are two sales taxes generated in city limits, a 6.25 percent tax imposed by the State of Illinois, another at a rate of 1.75 percent collected off Joliet’s home-rule sales tax. The city is remitted one percent of the State of Illinois’ sales tax.

Financial documents show that Joliet gained an estimated $11.5 million through the sales tax shared with the State of Illinois over the last six months. During that same time period last year, this revenue amounted to an estimated $11.9 million.

The city has collected $13,084,614.06 through its home-rule sales tax the first half of 2018. During this same time period last year, Joliet had generated $11,924,272.60.

The state of Illinois assesses a two-percent, processing fee on the city’s local home-rule sales tax.

“In the first six months, that cost us $267,000,” Ghedotte said. “We should see an uptick in that also for the last six months.”