No public money for Bears stadium? Conservative group wants village to ban subsidies for businesses

A conservative political advocacy group — with its state chapter business office in Rolling Meadows in the shadow of Arlington Park — is collecting signatures to petition the Arlington Heights village board to pass an anti-corporate welfare ordinance banning any community giveaways for the proposed Chicago Bears redevelopment at the racetrack.

Us citizens for Prosperity is striving to accumulate 1,000 signatures of registered Arlington Heights voters for its proposed ordinance. Even though not mentioning the NFL franchise precisely, it would prohibit the municipality from “providing or extending any economic incentive to any business enterprise or corporation to operate in the village.”

Beneath an antiquated and rarely, if ever, utilized section of the municipal code, the petition of at the very least 1% of registered voters would need the village board to formally take into account the ordinance.

Brian Costin, deputy state director of People for Prosperity, explained the team has about half of the signatures it requirements, immediately after it started out circulating petitions on July 4. He expects to post them to the village clerk by the conclusion of the thirty day period.

“The Bears can afford to pay for to make a condition-of-the-art stadium with out providing a single jersey, ticket or incredibly hot canine,” Costin instructed the village board Monday evening. “Any taxpayer subsidy or distinctive tax break would be padding the revenue of billionaires at the expenditure of other enterprises and inhabitants in Arlington Heights.”

Mayor Tom Hayes has still left open the doorway to community subsidies for the Bears stadium redevelopment. Following the team’s tentative $197.2 million buy deal for the Arlington Park land was announced very last tumble, Hayes explained taxpayer bucks could be employed as “a very last resort.”

The proposed ordinance would control the village’s use of tax increment funding, abatements, credits, financial loans, or tax and payment reductions.

Hayes, who observed the draft ordinance a couple months back, reported it would acquire away “a quite critical device in our economic tool box.”

“We have used (TIF districts) on a limited basis with the consultation of not only the other taxing bodies, but with our people. This is some thing that we don’t do willy-nilly,” Hayes stated. “And we have applied it extremely properly. All you have to do is go seem at our downtown and other buying centers in city.”

A TIF district freezes property taxes likely to neighborhood governments at a specific stage, then funnels taxes higher than that into redevelopment.

Possessing already been given a chilly reception from the mayor and trustees who are keen to entertain the prospect of a Bears shift to city, if the evaluate is voted down, the advocacy team then could collect an additional 11,000 signatures, major to a binding referendum at the ballot box.

There are a lot of caveats, though, that would enable the board to reject the proposal if the village attorney finds it “is in conflict with any Constitutional provision, current statutes or ordinances of other preempting jurisdictions,” in accordance to the municipal code.

And any ordinance adopted through the petition mechanism can be repealed by the board or yet another ballot initiative, the code states.

Costin, a one particular-time Schaumburg mayoral applicant, reported his group isn’t going to have any official opposition to the Bears’ creating a new stadium on the 326-acre Arlington Heights property in reality, he thinks it would be a wonderful site. He just isn’t going to want the suburban relocation to appear with any neighborhood or state handouts.

Costin reported he thinks the staff and NFL can pay for to fund the value of a new stadium alone, citing an yearly report unveiled Monday by Sportico that put the Bears as the sixth most valuable franchise in the league at $5 billion. He also mentioned the NFL signed an 11-year, $110 billion media rights offer, and it routinely allows pay for new stadium building.

“It really is the most financially rewarding athletics amusement company in the entire world, and they have additional than plenty of funds to develop these stadiums on their individual if they wished to,” Costin explained.

On the point out stage, a range of leaders from the two parties have stated they have no urge for food for condition financing for a suburban stadium. That includes Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who reported after the Bears land obtain was announced that he thought the team need to keep in Chicago and that public revenue to continue to keep them there or move them to Arlington is “not one thing that we are wanting at.”

A closing on the 326-acre home is scheduled for early 2023.