A lobbying agency employed by a trio of faculty districts that tax the previous Arlington International Racecourse website the Chicago Bears lately bought has begun offering updates on the agency’s work, telling Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15 officers Wednesday night time there’s nothing substantial to report — proper now.
“So far, we haven’t had any conversations that have resulted in an agreement, but we’re still talking to the Bears and we’re trying to set up a more formal meeting with the Bears,” John Dunn, of the Philadelphia-based Cozen and O’Connor regulation agency, advised board members as a part of a legislative replace throughout the assembly.
Lobbyists for the Chicago Bears and the one for a trio of faculty districts that pull funding from the previous horse racing venue have met informally about Senate Bill 1350, a large property tax incentive invoice that might divert billions in tax {dollars} away from faculty districts to encourage the soccer crew’s proposed redevelopment on the website.
The invoice is sponsored by state Sen. Anne Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights.
Dunn advised the SD15 board that he and his two colleagues, Matt Glavin and Sydney Holman, have had “informal conversations” with representatives of the crew in Springfield about amending the invoice.
With 5 weeks leftin the present legislative session, Dunn stated he and his colleagues would “continue our discussions with them to see if we can make some movement on reaching an agreement.”
Dunn additionally supplied a window into a number of the discussions his crew has had to date, from legislative leaders to the governor’s workplace and different lobbying teams.
“We talked to Cook County. We had sort of brief conversations with [the Illinois Federation of Teachers] and the Illinois Association of School Boards and lots of others,” he stated.
The Bears formally purchased the 326-acre property in February, capping greater than a yearlong wait after the NFL crew had entered right into a $197 million buy settlement with former website proprietor Churchill Downs in September 2021.
The crew has proposed a sprawling, multi-billion greenback mixed-use redevelopment that would come with industrial, residential and leisure areas, in addition to a domed NFL stadium.
The village has not but vetted any plans and is doing its personal analysis into what the infrastructure and financial wants and impacts such a improvement would pose, village leaders have stated.
A 19-elementary faculty district, SD15, together with Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Township High School District 214, moved in February to rent lobbyists to symbolize the trio in Springfield after the megaproject SB1350 was launched.
Additionally Wednesday, Dunn walked board members by way of the construction of the invoice, which he characterised as being just like a standard tax increment financing district.
“Technically, it’s not a TIF bill, but it’s kind of the same,” he stated. “I would call it a variation of TIF legislation.”
SB1350 supplies a framework during which builders investing greater than $500 million in a undertaking may very well be entitled to as much as 40 years’ price of tax breaks. The measure would enable for the property tax stage on a selected website to stay flat for 23 years, however gives an possibility to increase that freeze an extra 17 years if the town or village the place the undertaking is situated finds that the event supplies a “substantial public benefit.”
The laws supplies for a “payment in lieu of taxes,” or PILOT, {that a} developer would pay to the municipality — on high of the frozen property tax worth, however lower than what the developer would pay in an atypical setup. Dunn advised board members the difficulty could be the worth of the cost.
“If it’s a big number that would be great for this district [and] the other two districts. And if it’s a small number, it would be great for the Bears,” he stated.
For the final two months, the invoice has been sitting within the Assignments Committee of the Senate whereas its House counterpart, HB 3565, is within the legislative limbo of the Rules Committee. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights, is sponsoring the House Bill.
As a part of the laws, the municipality could be required to distribute the PILOT in the identical proportions atypical property taxes are distributed to taxing our bodies like faculty, library and mosquito abatement districts.
District 15 enrolls greater than 20,000 college students from the close by cities of Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights and Inverness, in line with info on the district web site.
It pulls property tax income from Arlington Park, which the racecourse can be referred to as, and any improvement selections stand to have an effect on the district’s monetary assets, district leaders have stated, and will additionally have an effect on the variety of district college students if the residential part of the Bears’ proposal involves fruition.
SD15 Superintendent Laurie Heinz wrote to Arlington Heights Village Manager Randy Recklaus as early as May 2022 to induce the village in opposition to establishing a TIF district for the soccer crew, saying the transfer would represent a “real concern” for the varsity district.
Dunn additionally cautioned board members that the laws at present on the desk solely constituted the “first inning.”
Then he corrected himself. Dealing with the Chicago Bears, this was solely the primary quarter, he stated.
“This is their first shot at how they could fund this development,” he stated. “And I think it remains to be seen if they come back to the table with round two of how they seek to fund it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com