Local college districts and the previous proprietor of Arlington International Racecourse have agreed on how giant the property tax invoice payable this 12 months ought to be, however negotiations with the brand new homeowners — the Chicago Bears — for future tax years and funds are nonetheless ongoing.
Former racetrack proprietor Churchill Downs Inc. pays $7.9 million in property taxes this 12 months, up from the $2.7 million it paid earlier than closing the observe in 2021.
Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, Palatine-based Township High School District 211 and Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15 — an elementary college district — all obtain property tax income from the racetrack web site.
District officers confirmed the faculties and Churchill Downs Inc. reached the settlement May 31, although the Cook County Board of Review nonetheless should approve it.
But as a result of the settlement is simply good for one 12 months, the Bears — new homeowners of the 326-acre property as of February — must re-negotiate the worth of the land in the event that they wish to carry down their 2023 property tax invoice. The 2023 taxes shall be assessed by the top of this 12 months then be payable in 2024.
“Next year it will be back to the original assessed value,” stated Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele.
The Bears will probably attempt to keep away from a invoice that would attain $16 million, based mostly on Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s current reassessment of the land’s worth.
The assessor establishes how a lot properties are price in Cook County. In the case of Arlington International Racecourse, the evaluation jumped from $33 million to $197 million, or roughly what the workforce paid for the property. The Bears had been pushing to have the property assessed at $37 million, Pioneer Press beforehand reported.
Months earlier than closing on the sale of the land, the soccer workforce proposed a multi-billion greenback redevelopment mission for the previous horseracing web site, together with a domed stadium, luxurious residences, and enterprise and leisure districts.
School district leaders cautious of the proposed redevelopment’s potential affect on pupil enrollment, coupled with potential cuts to district revenues as a consequence of tax breaks, have pushed to have the property valued at $95 million.
“It is important to know that the 2023 and 2024 assessments have yet to be set by the County Assessor, and no agreement has been reached between the school districts and the Chicago Bears with respect to those two years,” leaders from every of the three districts stated in a joint assertion.
Hence, negotiations proceed between the college districts and the Bears.
Kaegi’s workplace assessed the previous racetrack at about $197 million, roughly equal to what the soccer workforce paid for it earlier this 12 months.
If that valuation holds, the workforce can be anticipated to pay $16 million in property taxes subsequent 12 months. That is why the Bears have been negotiating with the college districts over future funds, a spokesperson stated.
Even with the assessor’s valuation, if the Bears and college districts come to an settlement, as the college districts did with Churchill Downs, the land worth could possibly be lowered and, because of this so would the tax invoice. This 12 months ought to mark Churchill Downs’ remaining cost of taxes on the property.
The Bears can have an opportunity to enchantment the assessor’s valuation of the land for the 2023 tax 12 months in a bid for a decrease tax invoice, which Steele stated she expects them to do, together with many others in Cook County.
“Next year, the Bears are going to be in the position of having to to verify or justify their intent to appeal,” Steele stated. “I think next year will be the interesting year.”
The Tribune’s Robert McCoppin contributed.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com