PEORIA (25News Now) – Legislation headed to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk could give homeowners a tax break to renovate their homes.

Senate Bill 2936, sponsored by State Sens. David Koehler (D-Peoria) and Win Stoller (R-Germantown Hills) would extend tax abatements from newly constructed homes to newly remodeled houses.

Koehler says the goal is to address areas of urban decay and encourage people to invest money back into their homes.

“The inner-city neighborhoods have a problem, and they’re getting old,” Koehler said. “We need to have some kind of incentive to say to people, ‘We will help you out as a community, as a city, if you want to put rehab money into your house, then we’ll abate a certain portion of the taxes.”

The city’s geographic information system shows urban decay boundaries in Peoria’s southside and Averyville, which runs along the North Valley.

Koehler says it applies to landlords and homeowners in single-family or duplex households.

If signed by the governor, increased property taxes produced by the rehabilitation project could be abated by 2% for up to 10 years.

“That’s essentially giving you a 20% abatement on your taxes during that period of time. That’s a pretty good incentive for somebody to be able to put money back into their house to improve the value of the house, and to improve the value of the neighborhood,” said Koehler.

This bill is something At-Large Peoria City Councilman John Kelly has been pushing for over the last eight years.

Kelly said the council is always looking to encourage more investments in these areas of the city. and in doing so, decreasing tax burdens and increasing land value.

“Hopefully, more stability in these neighborhoods and then ultimately some real capital investment that would outweigh the deterioration that’s going on in these neighborhoods,” said Kelly. “The more attractive it is, crime goes down, you know, there’s a lot of overflow that comes from things like this.”

The bill unanimously passed the Senate and went through the House with one no vote.

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