Mt. Prospect OKs tax break for business moving from Arlington Hts.

Cook County businesses are only supposed to get a Cook County tax incentive if they prove their business couldn't open without it. That's difficult to do when you start construction on a new building before getting the tax break approved.

Jim Peterson, of Peterson Roofing Inc., wants to move his business from Arlington Heights to Mount Prospect. Although he has already started construction, Peterson said he couldn't make the move without a tax break.

"I dropped the ball and didn't get the application in," Peterson told the Mount Prospect village board on Tuesday. "But when I was looking around for a place to go, I thought first of Mount Prospect. I've lived in Mount Prospect my entire life."

The village board unanimously endorsed Peterson's application to the Cook County Assessor's Office for a Class 6b tax incentive, which would lower his assessment level from 25 percent of market value to 10 percent for a 10-year period.

Mount Prospect Director of Community Development Bill Cooney blamed the delay on a "breakdown in communication."

He said he advised Peterson in 2008 that the village typically supports 6b requests, but Peterson "did not follow through with the application until now," Cooney said in a letter to village trustees.

Despite the lag, the board encouraged Peterson to move his business and its 40 to 50 employees to Mount Prospect.

"We get a fair amount of criticism from citizens about tax breaks even though we just suggest them to the Cook County Board," said Trustee John Korn. "But I think we should still do this. I'll be criticized for it, but that's OK."

Peterson plans to move to Mount Prospect from Arlington Heights this fall.