By Patrick Baron/Howard Packowitz
NORMAL – Governor Bruce Rauner, visiting Illinois State University Thursday afternoon, signed into law a bill that extends the lifespan of Uptown Normal’s tax increment financing district by 12 years.
The TIF districts covers undeveloped parcels, or sections of land, between College Avenue, Mulberry Street, and Beaufort Street.
“That was expiring. We don’t want that to expire, we want to make sure we have tax benefits and incentives to invest and grow the economy here and bring more investors here,” Rauner said.
The Uptown TIF will now last until 2038. The six affected taxing bodies in Normal, consisting of Unit 5 schools, the Normal Township Board, Heartland Community College Board of Trustees, the McLean County Board, the Normal Town Council, and the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District, had previously signed off on the TIF district extension.
“More tax breaks, more tax incentives, get the tax burden down. Grow the economy, more investment here in Normal and McLean County,” said Rauner.
State Representative Dan Brady and State Senator Jason Barickman, both from the Twin-Cities, guided the measure through the General Assembly before it reached Rauner’s desk.
Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].
