A lobbying agency employed by a trio of faculty districts that tax the previous Arlington Worldwide Racecourse website not too long ago bought by the Chicago Bears has begun offering updates on the agency’s work, telling Palatine Neighborhood Consolidated Faculty District 15 officers Wednesday night time there’s nothing substantial to report — proper now.
“To date, we haven’t had any conversations which have resulted in an settlement, however we’re nonetheless speaking to the Bears and we’re making an attempt to arrange a extra formal assembly with the Bears,” John Dunn, of the Philadelphia-based Cozen O’Connor regulation agency, informed 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 Invoice 1350, a large property tax incentive invoice that might divert billions in tax dollars away from college districts to encourage the soccer staff’s proposed redevelopment on the website.
The invoice is sponsored by state Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights.
Dunn informed the District 15 board that he and his two colleagues, Matt Glavin and Sydney Holman, have had “casual conversations” with representatives of the staff in Springfield about amending the invoice.
With 5 weeks leftin the present legislative session, Dunn stated he and his colleagues would “proceed our discussions with them to see if we will make some motion on reaching an settlement.”
Dunn additionally provided a window into among the discussions his staff has had up to now, from legislative leaders to the governor’s workplace and different lobbying teams.
“We talked to Cook dinner County. We had kind of transient conversations with (the Illinois Federation of Academics) and the Illinois Affiliation of Faculty Boards and many others,” he stated.
The Bears purchased the 326-acre property in February, capping greater than a yearlong wait after the NFL staff had entered right into a $197 million buy settlement with former website proprietor Churchill Downs in September 2021.
The staff has proposed a sprawling, multibillion-dollar 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 growth would pose, village leaders have stated.
District 15, a 19-elementary college district, joined with Palatine-Schaumburg Excessive Faculty District 211 and Township Excessive Faculty District 214 in February to rent lobbyists to signify the trio in Springfield after the megaproject SB 1350 was launched.
On Wednesday, Dunn additionally walked board members by means of the construction of the invoice, which he characterised as being much like a standard tax increment financing district.
“Technically, it’s not a TIF invoice, but it surely’s form of the identical,” he stated. “I'd name it a variation of TIF laws.”
SB 1350 supplies a framework by which builders investing greater than $500 million in a challenge may very well be entitled to as much as 40 years’ value of tax breaks. The measure would permit for the property tax stage on a specific website to stay flat for 23 years, however presents an possibility to increase that freeze a further 17 years if town or village the place the challenge is situated finds that the event supplies a “substantial public profit.”
The laws supplies for a “fee in lieu of taxes,” or PILOT, that a developer would pay to the municipality — on prime of the frozen property tax worth, however lower than what the developer would pay in an unusual setup. Dunn informed board members the problem could be the worth of the fee.
“If it’s a giant quantity that may be nice for this district [and] the opposite two districts. And if it’s a small quantity, it could be nice for the Bears,” he stated.
For the final two months, the invoice has been sitting within the Assignments Committee of the Senate whereas its Home counterpart, HB 3565, is within the legislative limbo of the Guidelines Committee. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights, is sponsoring the Home invoice.
As a part of the laws, the municipality could be required to distribute the PILOT in the identical proportions unusual property taxes are distributed to taxing our bodies like college, library and mosquito abatement districts.
District 15 serves greater than 20,000 college students from Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights and Inverness, in keeping with info on the district web site.
It pulls property tax income from Arlington Park, because the racecourse can be known as, and any growth choices stand to have an effect on the district’s monetary sources, 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.
District 15 Superintendent Laurie Heinz wrote to Arlington Heights Village Supervisor Randy Recklaus as early as Might 2022 to induce the village towards establishing a TIF district for the soccer staff, saying the transfer would represent a “actual concern” for the college district.
Dunn additionally cautioned board members that the laws at the moment on the desk solely constituted the “first inning.”
Then he corrected himself. Coping with the Chicago Bears, this was solely the primary quarter, he stated.
“That is their first shot at how they might fund this growth,” he stated. “And I feel it stays to be seen if they arrive again to the desk with spherical 2 of how they search to fund it.”
()