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DAILY CHRONICLE A tax on fun?
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Theme of festival to be revealed Announcement set tonight in Sycamore By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia
DeKalb officials have proposed a new 4 percent tax on amusements, which includes exhibitive activities such as events, as well as participatory activities such as golf, gym memberships and other sports programs. The amusement tax “could produce revenue from several events at [Northern Illinois University] and help offset the property taxes lost on exempt properties located throughout the university,” a city memo said. In this Daily Chronicle file photo, Northern Illinois University students Lauren Burron (center) and Sarah Moudy (right) scream during the Chase Rice concert at the NIU Convocation Center.
DeKalb City Council to discuss trio of proposals at meeting By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com DeKALB – City staff members have proposed tax increases on natural gas, an increase in the city’s home rule sales tax rate and a new amusement tax in an effort to shore up the city’s finances and pay for millions of dollars in capital projects. The new taxes could increase the price to buy most goods within the city, as well as the price of a host of activities including tickets to movie and sporting events, cable TV subscriptions, bowling and gym memberships. “With the general fund’s revenue streams flat and the diminishing revenue dollars the general fund has received from the [tax increment financing] funds, the ability of the general fund to even fund a portion of the capital assets is severely diminished,” City Manager Anne Marie Gaura and Finance Director Cathy Haley wrote in a memo to Mayor John Rey and DeKalb City Council members. The City Council is expected to discuss the three tax proposals at a joint meeting with the Finance Advisory Committee at 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall Council Chambers, 200 S. Fourth St., DeKalb. One proposal would increase the city’s home rule sales tax rate from 1.75 percent, with the additional revenue generated being dedicated to capital improvements, fleet and
equipment costs and the city’s general fund. A half-percent increase would generate around $2 million in additional revenue, the memo states, while a 1 percent increase could generate about $4 million. A 1 percent increase also would bump the city’s home rule tax rate to the highest of a long list of comparable towns in the Chicago region, with the city’s total tax rate increasing to 9 percent. The sales tax applies to retail purchases except for some food sales, medicines and medical supplies. Because the city is home rule, the City Council doesn’t need voter approval for the tax proposals. Local business owners worry that raising the sales tax rate would hurt their bottom lines because cost-conscious consumers would buy elsewhere. “[DeKalb] has one of the higher tax rates already,” said Rob Bonner, general manager of DeKalb Harley-Davidson. “There’s nothing in DeKalb that can’t be bought elsewhere. Savvy customers know they can go somewhere else to buy the same goods for less. “We have to remain competitive, otherwise people will choose to do business elsewhere.” Restaurant owners said a higher sales tax would hit them particularly
Tax rates for area municipalities Municipality East Dundee (Cook County) Elgin (Cook County) Carpentersville Streamwood Rolling Meadows Elk Grove Village (Cook County) Hoffman Estates (Cook County) Hanover Park (Cook County) Romeoville East Dundee (Kane County) West Dundee Wheaton Elgin (Kane County) Batavia Elk Grove Village (DuPage County) Hoffman Estates (Kane County) Sycamore Saint Charles DeKalb Hanover Park (DuPage County) Crystal Lake Belvidere Lake in the Hills Algonquin DeKalb County
Sales tax rate 9.50% 9.25% 9.00% 9.00% 9.00% 9.00% 9.00% 8.75% 8.50% 8.50% 8.50% 8.25% 8.25% 8.00% 8.00% 8.00% 8.00% 8.00% 8.00% 7.75% 7.75% 7.75% 7.75% 7.75% 6.25%
Home rule tax rate 1.50% 1.25% 2.00% 1.00% 1.00% 1.00% 1.00% 0.75% 1.50% 1.50% 1.50% 1.00% 1.25% 1.00% 1.00% 1.00% 1.75% 1.00% 1.75% 0.75% 0.75% 0.00% 0.75% 0.75% 0.00%
Source: City of DeKalb
See TAXES, page A6
SYCAMORE – The 54th annual Pumpkin Festival theme was submitted by an elementary school student in Sycamore and it includes the word “pumpkin.” Those were all the clues that 2015 Sycamore Pumpkin Festival Committee theme chairwoman Jennifer Diehl would divulge ahead of tonight’s big announcement. The suspense will end when the theme is officially announced at 6 p.m. tonight at the DeKalb County Courthouse, 133 W. State St., Sycamore. Of If you go the 113 theme suggestions this year, 24 finalists made n WHAT: Theme the cut, Diehl said. announcement for “We had a lot of really 54th annual Pumpkin unique ones,” Diehl said Festival of this year’s submissions. n WHEN: 6 p.m. today “Through the weeding out n WHERE: Front steps process this year, we had of the DeKalb County a hard time. There were not a lot of repeats of pre- Courthouse, 133 W. State St., Sycamore vious years.” Most of the committee members will be at the event, which will include “a little bit of setup and pomp and circumstance,” Diehl said. Students from kindergarten through fifth grade from Sycamore’s eight public and private elementary schools, plus home-schooled students, were allowed to submit a theme. Themes that involved trademarked names or repeated previous themes were not selected. The pumpkin festival stretches back as far as 1956, when Wally “Mr. Pumpkin” Thurow would display pumpkins on his front lawn to give city youngsters a fun Halloween activity. It became an official celebration in 1962 with help from the Sycamore Lions Club. Thurow died in 2012. Last year a statue of him and his trademark penny farthing bicycle was unveiled along the parade route at the southwest corner of Somonauk and Elm streets. Mayor Ken Mundy called the event “a great thing for our kids,” and he has enjoyed previous themes that celebrate the United States. “I like the patriotic, and I think the young people do, too,” Mundy said, “because it offers a lot of opportunity for creative thought as they decorate their pumpkins.”
Monica Synett file photo – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Reagan Wesley, 11, sets up her pumpkin skeleton carving with the help of her dad, Kreg Wesley, during the opening day of the 2014 Sycamore Pumpkin Festival.
Lawsuit: Denver man monopolizing Illinois marijuana industry By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO – A colorful Denver businessman and unsuccessful city council candidate schemed to monopolize the new medical marijuana industry in Illinois, according to a lawsuit that has joined a parade of legal challenges from competing marijuana business applicants in the state. Medponics Illinois filed the lawsuit Monday in Lake
County. It claims Kayvan Khalatbari and his Denver companies have controlling interests in more than three Illinois cultivation centers. If true, that would violate Illinois regulations. But some industry insiders say Khalatbari has played by the rules and, while he’s an owner in one Illinois company, he’s merely a contract consultant for another – a much lower level of involvement.
“That’s not gaming the system. That’s staying within the letter of the law,” said Kris Krane, a cannabis consultant who is familiar with the Illinois industry and is not involved in the lawsuit. Messages seeking comment on the lawsuit from Khalatbari and Denver Relief Consulting were not immediately returned. Khalatbari founded a Denver pizza chain called Sexy Pizza and has been an outspoken advocate for legal and
regulated marijuana. Earlier this month, he lost an election for an at-large Denver city council seat. The new lawsuit alleges Denver Relief Consulting and founding partner Khalatbari entered into agreements with two Illinois companies – Cresco Labs and Progressive Treatment Solutions – “in a scheme to control and profit from more than three different cannabis cultivation centers,” said attorney Kathleen McDonough, who represents
Waukegan-based Medponics. Between them, Cresco and Progressive now hold four cultivation permits and are in the running for a fifth. “He calls himself different things,” McDonough said. “He was the front man for Progressive ... much more than an adviser. And he’s the CEO of Cresco Labs, which has three permits.” Progressive Treatment Solutions won one permit and plans to build a cultivation center in East St. Louis. It’s in
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the running for another permit in a region that includes Lake County. The Illinois Department of Agriculture is still reviewing applications in the Lake County region. The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Medponics, applied to grow marijuana in the Lake County city of Zion. “Medponics wants the license in Lake County,” McDonough said. “They put an enormous amount of effort into that process.”
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