City Council to Vote On Expansion of Downtown Tax

The City of Joliet currently has a business property tax in place that only affects businesses built in a certain area of downtown. The city council is proposing that the area for which this tax is in effect should be expanded to include commercial districts on Cass, Collins and South Chicago streets.

The reasoning behind this proposed increase according to City Manager Joe Hock, “This is fitting with our strategic plan goal of bringing further development to our East Side commercial corridors,” by reinvesting the increased tax revenue into the same area. City officials said the increase would result in an 8.6 percent jump in revenue. The tax amounts to 95 cents per $100 in assessed valuation, the tax now generates $400,000 a year. It is expected to produce $630,000 if the expansion is approved.

Some owners of the businesses in the new area have complained that the money will just be used to improve downtown still and not their business areas. Economic development director for the city Steve Jones defended it by saying, “These are areas that feed into our downtown…If they’re healthy and strong, it will help downtown be healthy and strong. If downtown is healthy and strong, it will help these areas be healthy and strong.”.

The vote to decide on if the tax increase will go through is set for December 20.