Arlington Heights Seeks Tax Compromise

A village compromise plan aims to get the Bears refocused on the racetrack site instead of the Soldier Field south parking lot for a domed stadium.

A compromise proposal from the Arlington Heights village board addrerssing the tax standoff between local school districts and the Bears has been made.

They have a response of sorts from the Bears, but not the Cook County government.

The plan is aimed at getting the proposed Bears stadium built at the Arlington International Racecourse site owned by the team rather than a new proposed site in the south parking lot at Soldier Field. At first, the City of Chicago had been looking desperately for ways to keep the Bears in the city. Now, it would appear it's Arlington Heights doing it.

The village sent the compromise suggestion to the Bears and the districts, allowing for less taxes than the large incerase the schools sought, a guarantee of at least a 3% raise in the rate of annual taxing and a limit of 10%.

The school districts are District 214 of Arlington Heights, 211 of Palatine and consolidated Palatine Consolidated School District 15. They take 60% of the property tax revenue from the site.

The compromise would set the assessed value of the property at $124.7 million for 2023 and 2024. This was the level Cook County's board of review assessed it at and includes a 25% commecial rate for half of 2023 and 10% vacant for the other half of the year.

Under the plan, the Bears would owe $6.3 million in taxes for 2023 and $3.6 million for 2024.

The Bears tore down the grandstand in 2023 but the assessors had claimed it came after their deadline for deciding taxes so the Bears should be on the hook for a higher tax rate the entire year. The rate would be 10% for 2024 taxes, reflecting the 2023 demoltion of the racetrack's grandstand.

As a racetrack, the property was assessed at a level of $33 million but when the Bears took it over the county changed the assessment and hiked it to $197.2 million. 

The Chicago Tribune reported the school districts have not immediately commented on the compromise proposal but the Bears issued a statement: “Our focus is on the City of Chicago project at this time.”

If a compromise is not reached, the Bears would most likely look to sell the property and the village is pondering uses for a 326-acre tract of land bordering on major highways, according to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Illinois state representative Mark Walker, a Democrat from Arlington Heights, suggested in a written statement that one of the possible uses for the land he expects  might be a housing or welcoming center for undocumented immigrants arriving in the U.S.

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