CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A few suburbs in DuPage County are pushing for the Illinois Senate to approve a measure that would allow them to use hotel-motel tax money a bit differently.
Currently, non-home rule communities must use 100 percent of hotel/motel tax money to encourage tourism.
Under a measure approved by the Illinois House, suburbs such as Lombard, Oak Brook, Lisle and Itasca would be able to use 25 percent of that money to promote economic development in general.
Scott Niehaus, village manager of Lombard, said the portion of the tax money would be "another tool in the toolbox of economic development".
He said he can see the money used in his village to provide incentive money in or near Yorktown Mall. He said the mall has been the economic engine of Lombard and, "while still successful is having to face some challenges based on changes to the retail industry".
Also taking into account the loss of Carson's and its 200,000-square-foot retail space, Niehaus can see the arpproximately $500,000 in hotel-motel tax money used as an incentive for a developer.
He said that, "while the village doesn’t own it—it is privately held—but you can imagine, to adaptively re-use that space, economic incentives from the local government may be needed."
If the hotel-motel tax bill is also approved by the Illinois Senate and signed into law by the Governor, it would sunset in 2023.