Elgin debates tax exemption to spur growth

Some Elgin City Council members took exception Wednesday night to a possible property tax exemption of nearly $555,000 over a 10-year span for a business that threatened to leave the Cook County side of the city.

Councilman David Kaptain voted against recommending to officials in Cook County - where the tax rate for commercial properties is three times that in Kane County - that Gerali Custom Design and Concrete Specialties receive essentially a tax rebate.

Kaptain said the incentive was initially offered to spur new construction or to rehabilitate existing industrial buildings.

He also noted the city has asked some workers to take pay freezes and has laid off others.

"For me, it would be hypocritical to support this," he said.

Kaptain, was the lone dissenting vote, although Councilman Richard Dunne voted reluctantly in favor of it, saying it could create or preserve some 150 jobs.

City Manager Sean Stegall supported the move.

He noted that Cook officials have the final say on the matter and said the high tax rate on the Cook County side has slowed, if not stopped, new business development on that part of the city's far east side.

"I do believe this is necessary to keep Cook County competitive," Stegall said. "Times have changed."

Mayor Ed Schock said if the businesses sold their 48,000-square foot building at 1480 and 1486 Sheldon Drive to a nonprofit group - a church in this case - the city would receive no property tax from the site.

With the $555,000 back, the two firms would still be paying taxes as if they were situated in Kane County anyway, Schock said.

"Something's better than zero, I think," he said. "This is the best of some difficult choices and alternatives."

The building has had the exempt status since 1996 and the Cook County assessor's office makes the final call under the law, which was enacted by Cook County in 1986.