Arlington Heights to make its position clear on business incentives

It’s becoming clear that Arlington Heights really wants the Chicago Bears.

Village officials are expected to double down on rejecting a conservative-led petition that aims to ban the use of public funds to build a new home for the National Football League team.

The libertarian group Americans for Prosperity Illinois has tried its best to thwart the village’s plans. It drafted a petition that was rejected by officials because it lacked enough valid signatures. Now, a second pass that meets the village’s requirements is also expected to be met with failure, the Arlington Heights Post reported.

Supporters of the ban collected an additional 30 signatures to supplement the 123 invalid ones with plans to go before the village board. Despite having more than the minimum 557 signatures — one percent of the population — the “Anti-Corporate Welfare Ordinance” will likely not pass, as Mayor Tom Hayes and multiple other trustees spoke against the measure at the previous meeting.

The ordinance was drafted in response to the Chicago Bears’ preliminary $197 million agreement to buy the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse to build an enclosed football stadium there. The team has said it won’t need any taxpayer funds to build the stadium itself, but also said the surrounding $5 billion mixed-use development won’t be able to move forward without financial assistance.

The board would need to approve putting the ordinance on the ballot as a referendum for local voters to then have a say. If the board rejects it, as is expected, Americans for Prosperity could try to collect signatures from 12 percent of registered voters — or about 7,000 signatures — to put the measure on the ballot without board approval.

“Our objective is to make sure all businesses are treated equally before the law, and no one gets special treatment,” Brian Costin, head of the local chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a national organization founded by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, previously said. “The continued flirtation with corporate welfare programs such as the creation of TIF districts, which raises everyone’s taxes when special corporations are given exclusive benefits, is untenable.”

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Arlington Heights rejects petition against incentivizing new businesses

— Victoria Pruitt