A bill passed by the Illinois Senate to greatly expand the area where Chicago diners are charged a 1% tax to help fund construction at McCormick Place will not be called for a vote by a House panel and may be stalled for this legislative session.
The move to hold the bill, which had been planned for consideration by the House Executive Committee on Thursday night, came after Mayor Lori Lightfoot voiced her opposition to the measure.
A Democratic source familiar with the legislation said it would not be considered by the House panel and was not expected to be part of the committee’s work in the final day of the spring legislative session Friday.
The measure, backed by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, would expand the boundaries of the current restaurant and bar taxing area beyond downtown to parts of the North, Northwest and South sides. It also would exempt sports arenas and stadiums with seating of 20,000 or more, a provision that Lightfoot questioned.
Mayoral spokeswoman Anel Ruiz said Lightfoot “is committed to ensuring that Chicago’s convention industry remains vibrant, and supports making investments that will enhance McCormick Place.”
“However, we are concerned about this proposal in its current form, specifically the exemption favoring large venue owners, whose customer base includes visitors and conventioneers, and the potential unintended consequences for small businesses in Chicago,” Ruiz said in a statement.
The proposal would expand the taxing district north from Diversey Parkway to Irving Park Road; west from Ashland Avenue to Western Avenue; and south from Interstate 55 to Pershing Road, also adding areas east of the Dan Ryan Expressway as far south as 55th Street.
The legislation provided an early test of the new mayor’s clout in Springfield. It had the backing of the Chicago Federation of Labor, which holds great sway over rank-and-file lawmakers.
But some North Side lawmakers said privately that their district offices have received many calls from people angry with the new taxing district since the Senate’s passage of the bill on Wednesday.
The McPier authority expected to bring in an additional $10 million in annual revenue from the expanded boundaries. Revenues were to be used for bonding and the partial teardown of the aboveground portion of McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center and the construction of a new facility over Martin Luther King Drive.
The legislation also would change the agency’s formal name to the Metropolitan Public Exposition Authority and increase its bonding authority by $600 million, to $3.45 billion.
Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne in Chicago contributed.
