The Chicago Tribune reports on a lawsuit filed by Community Unit School District 300 against Sears, saying the district should get back some of the millions of dollars in diverted tax money because Sears has violated the agreement that brought its headquarters to Hoffman Estates. From the story:
Nearly 30 years ago, to lure Sears’ home base from Sears Tower in Chicago and keep it in Illinois, the retailer received nearly $250 million in tax breaks and incentives to move to its sprawling Hoffman Estates headquarters.
When the deal was to expire in 2012, local taxing districts like Community Unit School District 300 were supposed to see the full benefit of the increased tax base, but instead Sears landed an extended deal with the renewed threat of leaving the state.
“Sears again started scaring lawmakers with the possibility of large scale job losses in the area by threatening to move its headquarters out of Illinois,” District 300 contends in the suit it filed against Sears and the village of Hoffman Estates.
The lawsuit says Sears and the village assured the school system that it would “experience substantial benefits with Sears’ property in the village fully back on the tax rolls.”
“Those assurances never materialized,” the suit states.