Pritzker: Bears should work with local governments if they want tax relief

Gov. JB Pritzker is all behind the Bears beating the Packers at Soldier Field Saturday night, but suggested Thursday the team may need to go it alone in its quest for tax relief on its property in Arlington Heights.

“Well first, let’s go crush Green Bay,” he said to applause after a bill-signing event at Joliet Junior College.

Short of approval of state legislation granting the NFL franchise a long-term property tax break at Arlington Park, Pritzker went on to say it’s up to the team to seek help from individual taxing bodies in and around the 326-acre site.

“The Bears have to go do the work with local governments about property tax abatement if they want to seek it, to get it from those local governments,” he said. “But I can tell you that the people, broadly, of the state of Illinois, do not want the state of Illinois to write a multibillion-dollar or even a billion-dollar check to a billionaire-owned team.”

Thursday marked Pritzker’s first public comments since Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren announced the organization would expand its stadium search to Northwest Indiana due to lack of “legislative partnership” in Springfield. After Warren’s Dec. 17 letter to season ticket holders, a Pritzker spokesman called a potential move across state lines “a startling slap in the face” to fans.

The Bears could stand to save at least millions if the governor and lawmakers approve so-called megaproject legislation that would allow the team to negotiate with local taxing authorities, including school districts, over the amount of taxes that should be paid at the old racetrack site for up to 40 years.

But the legislation has stalled at the state Capitol, and it’s likely not going to be a priority when legislators return next week.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch on Wednesday called the team’s ask for help with a new stadium “insensitive,” amid residents’ affordability concerns.

Pritzker doubled down on Thursday, suggesting that Kansas residents are “very unhappy” with a deal that would commit some $2 billion in state funds for the Kansas City Chiefs to move across state lines from Missouri.

“I want what’s best for the taxpayers of the state of Illinois,” he said. “I want to make sure that we’re not providing incentives or tax breaks to billionaires on projects where they shouldn’t be provided.”

According to one estimate provided by Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia — who backs the Bears-friendly legislation — the team could be on the hook for a $100 million tax bill if the sprawling property is fully developed as a $4 billion stadium-anchored mixed use district at full assessments and tax rates.

Right now, the team is paying $3.6 million a year on the vacant land through 2027, per a memorandum of understanding that resolved a long-running local tax battle a year ago.

The Bears and village officials didn’t comment Thursday on Pritzker’s suggestion to work together on the local level, but they’ve maintained the megaproject bill — and its long-term tax guarantees — is necessary to make the club’s long-envisioned suburban location a reality.

Couldn’t the village, school districts and other local governments extend their short-term tax agreement with the Bears, and would they need the state’s permission to do so?

One of the complications may be Cook County’s triennial reassessment cycle, in which properties are assigned a new fair market value every three years. That might make arriving at a longer term agreement difficult.

Pritzker on Thursday maintained receptiveness to the Bears’ other ask: public dollars for roads, utilities and other infrastructure improvements. The team has estimated that cost to be $855 million.

He referenced the ongoing $189 million project to reconstruct and resurface Route 53 from I-90 to Lake-Cook Road, and rehab a number of bridges that would serve as exits to a potential Bears stadium.

“If you’ve been to Arlington Heights, if you know the roads and the highways around it, there’s work that needs to be done already. So we can easily make a commitment to some of those things, because we were already going to do some of those,” Pritzker said.

· Daily Herald staff writer Marni Pyke contributed to this report.