Tax incentive lures gaming machine maker to Mount Prospect

With the help of a Cook County property tax incentive, a manufacturer and distributor of gaming equipment to casinos will be moving into Mount Prospect's Kensington Business Center.

Novomatic Americas Sales LLC plans to lease a 51,715-square-foot building at 1050 Business Center Drive. The property, formerly occupied by Technotrans, has been vacant for a year. Novomatic will consolidate facilities in Deerfield Beach, Florida and East Dundee, as part of the move.

The Mount Prospect village board on Tuesday voted to support the tax incentive, which now must be approved by the Cook County Board. Under the 6b tax incentive program, a property's level of assessments dropped from 25 percent to 10 percent - effectively cutting property taxes in half - for 10 years. The level of assessment then rises over the next two years before returning to normal.

The incentive program was created to make vacant industrial and manufacturing properties in Cook County more competitive with those available in the collar counties, which otherwise are taxed at a lower level.

Mount Prospect Community Development Director Bill Cooney said there are roughly 12 companies receiving 12 6b incentives in the Kensington Business Center. Approximately 20 have been approved in the village over the past couple of decades, he said.

"People need to understand how important this is," Trustee Paul Hoefert said, noting that the business' employees would be eating lunch in the village and visiting nearby Randhurst Village. "I couldn't be more thrilled that a vacant building in the Kensington Center is now going to be alive and functioning."

Rick Meitzler, president and CEO of Novomatic Americas Sales LLC, told the board the company manufactures in Austria but plans to start making machines in the United States. The company will grow as it obtains more licenses, he said.

"Our five-year plan in year three is to start to manufacture over here, to get what we call a made in the USA tag," he said.

The board's vote came one week before they're expected to discuss at a June 9 public meeting whether to allow video gambling machines at eligible businesses in the village.

"I think it's two different applications," Mayor Arlene Juracek said. "Large casino versus five machines in every bar."