By: Diane Benjamin
I filed a FOIA with the Town of Normal after learning they paid more than $7000 a year in property taxes on the property leased to Dan Brady for $1 a year.
What I received appears to be missing some information, but below is what I have figured out so far. It doesn’t seem to matter if some properties are leased – sometimes property taxes are paid, sometimes they aren’t..
3 Cell Towers: PINS 14-21-351-012, 14-32-280-018, 14-28-283-003
The Town is paying $1204.18, $1059.66, $1059.66 respectively in property taxes. I haven’t found anything about how much rent is paid, I’ve asked for clarification.
The POD 100-104 E Beaufort PIN 14-28-435-026
The Town pays property taxes of $2943.38 and collects $875 a month in rent
Ohmfit Activewear 102 W North Street – directly east of Dan Brady’s office
The County shows the property Exempt PIN 14-28-430-015. Rent is $180 a month, town pays all Utilities
Subway – Uptown station
Town pays property taxes of $884.18 PIN #14-28-436-030. Rent for years 1-2 was 10% of gross or $1000 a mth, years 3-4 is $1200 a mth, year 5 is $1400. The lease expires is 2017.
Amtrak PIN #14-28-404-001
County shows Exempt. The lease provides free parking for Amtrak employees, Amtrak pays the Town for Utilities. Amtrak pays $1 in rent for the Term – which appears to be 35 years.
Marriott Conference Center PIN 14-28-427-018
County shows Exempt.
Wild Country 201 – 203 S Linden PIN 14-28-438-007
ZERO Rent! Town pays $10,011.70 in Real Estate Taxes. Lessee pays 1/12 of the Property Taxes to the Town per month.
209 S Linden PIN 14-28-438-014
County shows Exempt – it might be a parking lot
All of these properties were listed as ones receiving Rental Income.
More investigation is needed, below are the two PDF files I received:
town-property-info-part-2-2 town-property-info-part-1-3
This information is absolutely incredible! The Town is using taxpayer money to pay taxes! How can the Marriott be exempt? Of course, to get the Marriott the Town paid for the land cost, parking garage cost and conference center cost. $30m is the figure I heard.
The Conference Center is exempt because Normal owns it. The Hotel surely isn’t, but I haven’t looked it up.
Ah, TIFs!! Aren’t they great at generating tax revenue!?! Not in Normal apparently.
Vote Tiritilli!
Guess UPTOWN didn’t learn much from their “sweet deal” with MMMA from years back.
MAYBE by the time Portillos goes broke they’ll figure it out???