Not to worry Gov. Quinn ("the Jobs Gov") will have it all straightened out now that he got his tax increase. Especially when they don't cut the budjet one penny.
As long as Mike Madigan and John Cullerton keep getting voted in things will continue on as they are now. Quinn only jumps when they, and the public unions tell him to.
Probably just one of many... (the bold parts were added by me0
Article
Crystal Lake loses business to Wisconsin
Crystal Lake tried to keep a business that generates hundreds of thousands in sales tax revenue, but couldn’t compete with incentives offered by Wisconsin and is losing the company to Pleasant Prairie.
Catalyst Exhibits Inc.’s chief executive officer, Tim Roberts, a Barrington trustee, announced the move last week in a press conference with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has been very public in his efforts to lure businesses out of Illinois after lawmakers here passed a hefty tax hike earlier this year.
The company, which creates and markets exhibits for trade shows worldwide, employs 88 at a 141,000-square-foot facility at 215 Exchange Drive. It needed room to expand and will
move into a 144,000-square-foot facility in Pleasant Prairie and employ 105 people.
Walker said Catalyst will receive a $500,000 state grant to relocate, and the Kenosha Area Business Alliance is providing a $1.25 million low-interest loan for building renovations.
That deal was too good to pass up, said Rich Korth, executive vice president.
“The business community in southern Wisconsin, especially the Kenosha area, has been very active and strong in working with us and giving us what we need,” he said. “We’ve come to the point where we have been growing over the last several years and needed a more efficient, larger space.”
Catalyst has been located in Crystal Lake since the late 1990s and most recently expanded a few years ago, said Michelle Rentzsch, the city’s director of planning and economic development. Numerous efforts were made to keep it in Crystal Lake, she said.
“It’s disappointing,” Rentzsch said. “The recent bump in income and corporate tax has highlighted the issues of the state.”
The city offered Catalyst revenue bonds that would have provided low-interest loans from a $3 million pot, and sales tax incentives, Rentzsch said, and asked for help from the state, but they “didn’t have a lot to come back with.”
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They were doing well in this market and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales tax,” she said. “We wanted to keep them in town, but they felt a move was a better idea.”
Another determining factor in relocating was the new building’s proximity to the I-94 corridor. That will allow the business to draw employees from northern Illinois to Milwaukee, Korth said.
In order to accommodate growth, the company would have had to expand its current facility, he said.
“It’s difficult for a company to uproot and move,” Korth said. “In order to redesign to our growth level, there were a lot of costs involved, versus moving with a clean slate to an area where we felt the business climate was geared more toward industrial as opposed to Crystal Lake, which is more residential and retail.”
Both facilities are owned by Cobalt Capital Partners. The group told Crystal Lake officials that they have other potential manufacturers interested in the site, Rentzsch said.
Catalyst expects to move to its new location mid-summer. The company will operate out of both locations for a short time, Korth said.
