The Chicago Bears are running out of time to avoid another losing season in Springfield. 

The team’s army of lobbyists have been seeking to advance so-called megaproject legislation during the last week of the General Assembly’s spring session that would allow the Bears to negotiate a lucrative property tax break at their planned Arlington Heights stadium development while potentially enabling a sales tax break on construction materials used to build such a project.

The stakes are high, but the odds of victory are low. The chances of any bill passing by May 31 are made worse if the team insists on assurances that public infrastructure dollars would follow the megaproject bill.

The team has long sought to tie its own stadium pursuit to larger legislation that could incentivize economic development across Illinois, but the bill could completely fall apart if sports stadiums are included in the tax breaks.

The team has received the backing of trade unions that would build the stadium, who are flexing their political muscle and urging lawmakers to not block the Bears out of any development bill.

"The trades would like to see a hell of a big construction project happen,” said Marc Poulos, political director for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, while conceding “it seems like an awful big lift” amid other priorities like approving a budget, saving mass transit from a fiscal cliff and a sweeping energy omnibus bill.

Local control?

Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights, filed one of the megaproject bills and does not want the Bears to be excluded. Negotiations are ongoing to incorporate provisions in other bills into a proposal that could, but are unlikely, to be voted on this week.

“We’re all looking to make sure that we have a program that works, that’s sustainable and can be used all across the state, regardless of developer, development or location,” Canty said. “Local communities deserve the right to be able to control their own destiny in terms of their economic development.”

Canty wants the bill to be agnostic on the Bears.

"If it’s a battery factory or sports team or something else, that shouldn’t matter because each community knows best what it needs in its area,” she said. 

The team has also not yet convinced lawmakers in the large Chicago delegation why they should support any measure that smooths the path for the team to march out of the city it’s called home for over a century.

“It’s problematic to say this is not for stadiums and then to refuse to rule it out,” said Rep. Kam Buckner, D–Chicago. “When you come knocking on the door of the Statehouse for not just money for an actual development but for tangential things like infrastructure . . . I want folks to be clear-eyed that we are in a very precarious budget situation." 

Arlington focus

Bears brass recently acknowledged they’ve refocused their attention on Arlington Heights after it became clear there was no appetite to approve $2.4 billion in combined subsidies to build a domed stadium just south of their current Soldier Field home. 

The team declined to comment on current negotiations.

Gov. JB Pritkzer’s team has been involved in the discussions, but the governor — while not completely shutting the door — has said public subsidies for stadiums are not among the state’s priorities.

Pritzker hired an outside consultant to review the team’s proposals and financial operation, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune. The Bears have also recently hired political consultant Leah Israel as a lobbyist, according to the report. Israel has deep ties to the governor and his team.

“As the Chicago Bears have been discussing various stadium proposals and financing models for more than a year, the governor’s office felt it was important to conduct due diligence and fully understand all the facts that could impact state taxpayers,” Pritzker spokesman Matt Hill said in a written statement.

A separate effort led by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, with background support from Pritzker, to persuade the team to consider the Michael Reese megadevelopment was shot down by the Bears, who have maintained the site is too small, complicated by existing railroad tracks, and would displace existing residents despite arguments to the contrary from those backing the project.

Megaproject logjam

It’s possible a compromise on the parameters of the megaproject bill may not even be reached this week, let alone a deal that includes the Bears.

Canty’s original bill defined megaprojects as developments investing at least $500 million, have signed labor peace agreements and stay in operation for at least 20 years. 

Those developments would be eligible to negotiate with local taxing bodies to have their property tax bill frozen for an initial 23 year term, with a possible 17 year extension, in exchange for an annual payment at an agreed upon rate. 

Canty says now it’s unlikely any compromise would allow for a 40-year term, but a final length has not been determined. 

The incentive is similar to tax-increment financing in that it freezes property tax rates, but Canty says the difference is all local tax bodies, including school districts, would be at the bargaining table. 

"That’s one of the issues that we’ve seen with TIF historically … because only the municipality gets to vote ultimately. So if we’re trying to create something new and better, we should be looking to modify that,” she said. 

Lobbyists for three Arlington Heights school districts are keeping tabs on the negotiations to ensure the bill keeps that provision, which would honor an agreement the Bears made with the districts to settle a dispute over their current property tax bill on their vacant land.

Another tax break under consideration would exempt building materials used in the construction of megaprojects from sales taxes for an initial 10-year period with a potential 5 year extension. If a project is certified as eligible for the exemption, each construction contractor working on the development would be eligible for the tax reduction.

Negotiations have debated whether that would only apply to the state sales tax, or local counties and municipalities as well.

Contractors with the exemption would be required to file annual reports detailing their purchases that received the tax break broken down by each megaproject they helped construct.