The Chicago Bears and three Arlington Heights-area school districts are millions apart on what they think the team's new Arlington Park property is worth and how much the team should pay in taxes, according to documents obtained by the Daily Herald.
"This is an excessive sum for property that will sit idle and will have no commercial use for at least the next two years," Warren wrote."This is simply not financially feasible and has negative consequences for all parties, including Arlington Heights and the surrounding communities."Kaegi's reassessment would hike the property value from $33.5 million to $197 million, which is just below the $197.2 million the Bears paid Churchill Downs Inc. for the old racetrack.
by signing up you agree to our terms of service But after an in-person meeting with the superintendents on April 18 -- Warren's second day on the job -- he wrote that the school administrators didn't return his subsequent phone calls. He's now seeking another meeting to"engage in candid conversation to determine whether we could reach a fair agreement which would provide long term benefits to all parties," according to the letter.
A Bears spokesman said Thursday"the letter speaks for itself," and nothing has changed since Warren sent it a week ago. District 214 spokeswoman Stephanie Kim said the district supports development at the shuttered racetrack, but it"needs to make sense for all taxpayers and the school districts." The import of the bill backed by the Bears -- establishing a so-called Payments in Lieu of Taxes financing mechanism --"completely changed the dynamics of the situation," Kim said.