Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211's school board joined counterparts in Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15 in hiring Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies to represent their interests in Springfield.
"It is a powerful voice when the two largest high school districts in the state and their common elementary school district are all asking for the same support and changes in legislation that is currently being considered in direct connection to the Bears' development project," District 211 Superintendent Lisa Small said Tuesday evening, when the school board authorized her to sign on to te contract the other districts inked with Cozen O'Connor last week.
The proposed Payments in Lieu of Taxes legislation would allow developers of"mega projects" -- those worth at least $500 million -- to make payments to local taxing bodies like schools while also getting an assessment freeze of up to 40 years. Under the proposal, the Bears' payments would be negotiated, but it's the village of Arlington Heights -- not the school districts -- that would be doing the bargaining.
by signing up you agree to our terms of service Gillespie, an admitted skeptic of her own bill, has said she filed it so that it could be part of a larger conversation about her long-sought reforms to tax-increment financing. Both financing mechanisms would freeze or control the amount of taxes that school districts would collect, even as the value of the Bears' new property increases.