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Tax Accord Reached for Great Lakes Project: North Suburbs to Gain Revenue From New Naval Base Housing

Posted on: Sunday, 2 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By M. Daniel Gibbard, Chicago Tribune

Apr. 2--A developer and four north suburbs have reached a deal on taxing new housing for the Navy's Great Lakes base, clearing the way for local schools and governments to receive about $4 million a year in new revenue by 2011.

Also under the agreement, Highland Park will receive 75 fewer homes and Glenview 20 fewer than were planned, further easing the burden on schools there, the towns say.

Under a public-private venture, developer Forest City Military Communities is to build or renovate 1,500 homes on military property in North Chicago, Highland Park/Highwood and Glenview. Many of the homes are in poor condition, and some are uninhabitable.

The property has never been taxed, but under the new partnership, rental revenue from the homes would be taxable even though the land would not.

Doubt was cast on the project last month when Forest City said a bill passed by the Illinois Senate would overtax the project to the point of collapse.

State Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills), who sponsored the bill, said the goal was always to provoke an agreement like the one reached late Wednesday.

"There was a little give and take on both sides," Link said.

The agreement provided the framework for a revision of the Senate legislation. The revised bill passed a House committee 9-1 and could come to a full vote next week.

There is not likely to be much opposition, Link said.

"It will give new taxes the school districts need," he said. "It will not fully fund them by any means, but it gives them something that they would not have had under the original situation."

When the project is complete, scheduled for 2011, North Chicago will have 1,100 homes and receive $2.7 million per year in taxes from Forest City; Ft. Sheridan will have 209 homes, and Highland Park and Highwood will share about $650,000; and Glenview will have 230 homes and get a little more than $725,000.

The taxation deal is only one-half of the equation for keeping schools healthy, officials say. The other is a proposal to group all the military children from Great Lakes under the same umbrella for figuring federal aid.

Under current formulas, North Chicago receives $6,100 in Impact Aid per child because 30 percent of its pupils come from military families, while Highland Park and Glenview receive just $700 per child.

Legislation pushed by Republican Rep. Mark Kirk and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama would give municipalities $6,100 per student for all those from Great Lakes.

"That's the last piece of this puzzle," North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham said.

dgibbard@tribune.com

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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