By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – A Normal Town Council member says Bloomington and Normal need to establish a shared sales tax so the two don’t lure businesses away from each other.

Kathleen Lorenz was one of two council members voting against rebating sales taxes to help a shopping center owner fill retail space along Veterans Parkway in Normal formerly occupied by Dick’s Sporting Goods. Dick’s moved to Bloomington two years ago.

It was revealed a family clothing retailer is interested in the location in Normal, but also considering a site in what was said to be an “adjacent” community. Lorenz said that struck a nerve.

“We might not have had an empty Dick’s store, what was once Dick’s Sporting Goods, had we had a shared sales tax because there might not have been that desire to pull them across Division St. to the southern part of Veterans Parkway,” Lorenz said.

“Granted, (Dick’s) wanted extra space. Who’s to say that the Town of Normal couldn’t have provided them that,” Lorenz said.

The town council Monday night voted five-to-two for a ten-year agreement to rebate up to $800,000 in sales tax receipts to Ohio-based Phillips Edison and Company. The firm is investing $4.1 million for shopping center upgrades to land a major retailer to replace Dick’s and to fill space created by the downsizing of Shoe Carnival and Office Depot.

Lorenz and Council member Scott Preston voted against the deal.

Several council members in Bloomington and Normal encouraged the idea of shared sales taxes last year, but it failed to gain any traction.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]