By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – A second local taxing body has agreed to offer property tax incentives for hundreds of new manufacturing jobs.
Meeting in special session, the McLean County Board voted 16-1 to cut taxes over the next decade for Canadian-based Brandt Industries, an agricultural equipment firm considering a site between Normal and Hudson to build attachments for John Deere tractors.
News partner WMBD-TV reports District 7 County Board member Jacob Beard, a Bloomington Republican, was the only no vote.
Another Bloomington Republican, District 10 County Board member Josh Barnett said on his Facebook page the development would diversify the local workforce and further cement McLean County’s place as the “Ag Capital of Illinois.”
Brandt must hire a minimum 50 full-time workers the first year and at least 300 full-timers by the seventh year, or the company won’t receive the tax breaks.
Kyle Ham, Chief Executive Officer of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, said the EDC has been talking with Brandt executives for about the past five months, but negotiations intensified the past two weeks.
“These opportunities don’t come around very often,” said Ham.
“I know there are other communities vying for this project, so I would really hate to see an opportunity like this slip,” Ham said.
The Unit 5 School Board signed off on the deal Monday night, but members complained they were kept in the dark until late last week.
Five more McLean County taxing bodies have yet to vote on the proposal.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
