Lake District 20 candidates differ on bringing jobs, property tax relief

Candidates running for the Lake County Board District 20 seat have very different takes on what the county should do to promote job growth in the current economy.

Four-term incumbent David Stolman, 59, a Buffalo Grove Republican, said he would support offering discounts, and utility and sales tax rebates to employers as incentives to locate here.

Democratic challenger Davita Siegel, 44, who manages a dental lab from her Buffalo Grove home, admits she doesn't have a solution to businesses leaving the county.

Stolman, an attorney, was first elected to the Lake County Board in 1992. Siegel has no prior political experience.

Stolman stressed Lake County must solve some critical issues to make it more attractive to business.

Lake County needs to fix its roads to be able to get people to and from their jobs. And, without affordable housing, employers such as Boeing, Abbott and Uline - three companies that moved their entire business or went elsewhere to open new offices/facilities - will not want to locate in Lake County, he added.

"The reality is you make it more palatable for employers to expand," Stolman said. "Lake County has to provide the roadways or at least the leadership to get the roadways built. A very important ingredient in this whole concept, the employers are looking for shovel-ready sites, which is hard to find in Lake County."

Siegel agreed the county needs better roads and affordable housing, but had no specific ideas to improve the jobs situation.

"Even if you have affordable housing and you have good roads, you have companies that are shipping jobs to other countries," she said. "It's very frustrating."

Lake County's high property taxes are a worse deterrent to people choosing to work here, Siegel said.

"If you can't afford to live here and you want to work close to where you live, it's a frustrating situation," she said.

Both candidates agreed the county board can't really do anything to control rising property taxes.

Stolman is a strong proponent of building the Route 53 extension through Lake County, a project that has been resurrected many times but remains idle.

Siegal said the county needs to explore and expand mass transit options as alternatives to dealing with congestion on the roads.

District 20 covers the Buffalo Grove areas in south central Lake County.