RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Cook County Board of Commissioners has enacted the Cook County Tax Incentive Ordinance, Classification System for Assessment, as amended from time to time (the "County Ordinance"), which provides for, among other things, real estate tax incentives to property owners who build, rehabilitate, enhance, and occupy property that is located within Cook County, Illinois and that is used primarily for industrial purposes; and
WHEREAS, The County Ordinance requires that, in connection with the filing of a Class 6(b) eligibility application with the Assessor, the applicant must obtain from the municipality in which such real estate that is proposed for Class 6(b) designation is located a resolution expressly stating, among other things, that the municipality has determined that the incentive provided by Class 6(b) is necessary for development to occur on such real estate and that the municipality supports and consents to the Class 6(b) classification by the Assessor; and
WHEREAS, Section 74-73 of the County Ordinance permits the suspension, revocation, or cancellation of various tax incentives, including Class 6b tax incentive, in several circumstances, including by the Cook County Board at the request of the municipality in which the real estate is located by municipal resolution; and
WHEREAS, Section 74-73 of the County Ordinance includes a list of non-exhaustive factors that could form the basis of the suspension, revocation, or cancellation of a tax incentive, including violating provisions of the County Ordinance, delinquencies in payment of property taxes, and inaccuracies in economic disclosure statements; and
WHEREAS, In addition to the considerations outlined in the County Ordinance, the City is a home rule unit of local government by virtue of Section 6(a) of Article VII of the 1970 Constitution of the State of Illinois and, as such, may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs, including valid exercises of the City's police power to protect the health, safety, and welfare ofthe City's residents; and
WHEREAS, As a home rule unit of government, the City should take into account public policy priorities, such as minority-owned business and women-owned business utilization goals and-green building requirements, in deciding whether tax incentives should be approved or revoked; and
WHEREAS, Applicants for tax incentives requiring City Council approval should be held to account for betraying the public trust by engaging in egregious violations of law or acts that jeopardize the health, safety, and welfare of the surrounding community and the City as a whole; and
WHEREAS, In order to protect the residents of the City and be a prudent steward of public funds, the City must ensure that those receiving tax incentives are held to account, not only for fulfilling their promises to the City, but also for acts and omissions that negatively impact the health, safety, and welfare ofthe residents ofthe City; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, gathered here this twentieth day of May, 2020, do hereby call for the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development to convene a hearing concerning establishing a framework and criteria for revoking tax incentives in accordance with the County Ordinance; and
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