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 But one leader from the Metro East isn't so sure.
Gov. Pat Quinn put his signature to the STAR bonds plan that will
allow officials in Marion to offer unprecedented incentives to
businesses that are willing to build new stores on 400 acres north of
Marion. The name of the bond plan stands for "sales tax
and revenue." The plan was originally targeted for the Illinois side of the St.
Louis suburbs. But local and state leaders there backed out because
of fears that the promises of new jobs and new dollars just didn't add
up.
Kevin Hutchinson is the mayor of Columbia, Ill., and past
president of the Southwestern Illinois Council of Mayors.
He said the mayors group studied STAR bonds, and while there would
be more jobs and more money for some communities in the Metro East,
Hutchinson said the mayors did not know if it would be new.
"The mayors, and more so the ones up in Madison County (who'd be)
directly affected by it, but as a group as a whole, we felt that most
of the business would just be a transfer from existing businesses."
Hutchinson said a professional study backed up those fears. And that
moved local leaders, then state lawmakers away from the push in
Springfield to allow the development incentives.
Leaders in southern Illinois then pounced. The new destination for
the STAR bonds development, Marion, is not as populated as the Metro
East, but locals say the jobs and investment are just as needed.
State Rep John Bradley, D-Marion, said the development may be in
Marion, but local leaders and legislators from across the southern
third of the state had to come together to get the STAR bonds plan
to the governor's desk.
"We knew if we worked together and took a leap of faith, and we
joined hands as a region, we could do it. When people work together
on both sides of the aisle, and when the whole region comes together
as it has, good things happen."
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Quinn said the new incentives will bring jobs to the area.
A southern Illinois study puts the number at around 6,000
construction jobs and another few thousand permanent jobs, with an
economic impact that could top $750 million.
Hutchinson said that may happen, or it may not. He said moving the
development to southern Illinois changes how the whole thing may
work. Though Hutchinson said that was never really a concern for
the southwestern Illinois mayors.
"Whether or not it would work ... that was not our concern. Our
concerns was, we felt it was going to take dollars from one area and
move it to the other."
Southern Illinois state Sen Gary Forby, D-Benton, said the planned
destination development is not only going to work in Marion, he said
it will also work for the state as a whole.
"This bill goes all the way from the top of Illinois to Cairo.
It's
going to help everybody," he said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News]
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