By Eric Stock

NORMAL – Normal mayor Chris Koos said the town will need some time to decide what it will do should Bloomington disband the Metro Zone agreement, a decades-old pact in which the Twin Cities share tax revenue on the west side.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Patti’s interview with Koos on WJBC. 
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Patti’s interview with Renner on WJBC.

“As the City of Bloomington and the Town of Normal promote the region we live in as an economic powerhouse, not as two communities, that’s going to make that job tougher when we have one side acting unilaterally,” Koos said. “We definitely want things to cool off before we decide what to do.”

He indicated the two cities had two meetings on the Metro Zone in recent months and he thought they were making progress on a new agreement, so he said he was surprised when Bloomington decided it wanted out.

Bloomington officials say the deal which was struck after the Mitsubushi Motors plant opened has created a $7 million dollar gap in tax revenue for the city over the life of the agreement.

Mayor Tari Renner said the Metro Zone had become obsolete but the city is willing to explore other options.

“This isn’t a divorce, we are not going anywhere,” Renner said. “We have to begin to work on a more community-wide basis to grow the economy.”

Renner referred to B-N Advantage, a consortium of local countywide organizations and several dozen public and private organizations that are promoting the region’s economic viability to prospective employers.

The Bloomington City Council is expected to vote on pulling out of the agreement at next Monday’s meeting.

Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.