Officials with AT&T Broadband said that Tinley Park is still in the running for a 600-plus job customer service center despite speculation that tax incentives offered by Will County were not enough.
AT&T’s request for tax abatement incentives were on the Will County Finance Committee’s agenda earlier this month, but no one representing the company showed up, said committee Chairman John Gerl. The committee needs to meet with company officials before it can make a recommendation on abatement to the County Board.
Brad Metzger of the Equis Corp. in Chicago, who is representing AT&T in negotiations on securing the tax abatements, said that missing the county meeting “was nothing more than a scheduling conflict.”
The company is seeking tax abatements from the state, county, Tinley Park, Summit Hill School District 161 and Lincoln-Way High School.
Pat Keenan, vice president of communications, said the company is still looking at the Tinley Park site, along with locations in Cook County and Crown Point, Ind., for the customer service call center.
“All three are still being considered, and we hope to make a site selection by the end of March,” Keenan said.
But Jim Allen, vice president of the Will County Center for Economic Development, said Metzger told him that the county’s incentives are not what the company had expected.
The county is offering a 50 percent tax abatement for four years on any building improvements or build-outs that are estimated to cost $1.8 million. The county’s incentives would come to $1,700 a year for four years.
“We have an established formula … if they were to build a building then, they could possibly receive a 50 percent tax abatement for five years. But once a building is on the tax rolls, as this one is, we can’t take it off,” Allen said.
Metzger said he would not comment on the issue “one way or the other.”
Keenan said the company was aware of the offer by the county.
“It is still a negotiation issue. We haven’t ruled out the incentive. We are working on scheduling another meeting [with county officials] to understand what the proposal is,” Keenan said.
The company is asking for a $7.8 million incentive package to locate the customer service call center for broadband and Internet services in the Will County portion of Tinley Park.
The state would provide $7.3 million in credits to the company over five years, with the rest being provided by School District 161, Lincoln-Way High School District 210, the county and Tinley Park.
The Tinley Park Village Board has approved an agreement for a five-year, 50 percent tax abatement on the village’s portion of the company’s property tax bill for a 90,000 square-foot site at 8801 W. 183rd St. in the Tinley Crossing Corporate Center adjacent to Interstate Highway 80. The village’s annual abatement would be $16,261.
“This is the biggest business we have attracted with the largest number of employees,” said Tinley Park Trustee Patrick Rea.
The village has offered bigger incentive packages to the World Music Theatre and a Car Max auto dealership, he said, but will reap bigger benefits through AT&T’s larger employee base.
“There is a multiple impact on services, on retail, restaurants, food service and barber shops. All those kinds of things bring more business to Tinley Park,” Rea said.
The village also has agreed to re-subdivide six lots in the corporate center for the placement of the AT&T building, as well as one lot for future expansion and one for a parking lot.
Mayor Ed Zabrocki said he was confident the deal with AT&T will work out.
“But I won’t say it’s a done deal until I see a building permit pulled,” Zabrocki said.
