Currently in the Spring Legislative Session, Illinois’ 104th General Assembly has legislation circulating to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois. Knox County Area Partnership President Ken Springer breaks down the bill and its’ tie to homeowners across the state:
“The state is attempting to craft a bill that would create an incentive that would retain the Bears in Illinois. The actual tool that would be created in order to help the Bears stay in Illinois would actually be an economic development tool that could be used statewide, if this thing passes. The tool is called PILOT, which stands for payment in lieu of taxes. It allows large projects that are going to have over $100 million in capital investment, it would allow those projects to sit down with local property tax authorities and essentially negotiate a clean slate,” says Springer.
“A version of this bill has already passed the house, but it needs a lot of fixing. One of the things that has happened in recent weeks is somehow this Bears bill has gotten tied up to property tax relief for Illinois homeowners. They are trying to basically achieve both goals of keeping the Bears in Illinois and also creating some sort of relief for Illinois homeowners via property taxes,” Springer adds.
Illinois’ Spring Legislative Session adjourns on May 31st.
