With a fire shuttering a Citgo station on Roosevelt Road and development pressures closing a Shell station at the corner of Madison and Harlem streets, Forest Park has seen two of its commercial gas pumps disappear in only a few weeks.
Add to that the abandoned Mobil station at Desplaines Avenue and Madison Street and the toll quickly rises to represent 30 percent of local pumping stations.
According to Village Clerk Vanessa Moritz, licensing records show there are seven gas stations open for business in the village. Though motorists aren’t likely to have a hard time finding fuel within Forest Park’s two-square miles, the absence of these stores may impact municipal revenue streams.
Forest Park’s share of the 19 cent per gallon motor fuel tax is coming in at a rate slightly behind last year, according to Judy Kovacs, the head of the village’s finance department. In the fiscal year that ended April 30, the village collected $266,000 in motor fuel tax revenue. This year the village is on a pace to collect $262,000, according to Kovacs. In fiscal year 2006 the village collected $263,000.
In addition to revenues from the gas tax, the village also collects sales taxes from gas stations. Kovacs said she could not specify how much her office takes in from these businesses specifically, but there are measurable losses in yet another area.
“We’re certainly losing revenue from business license fees,” Village Administrator Mike Sturino said.
Forest Park collects a licensing fee from gas stations based on the number of pumps at a given station. At $50 per pump, Kovacs said the fees average $1,800 a year per station.
