Economic Development High on Candidates' To Do List

The six candidates running for village trustee all agree Huntley needs to bring more business to the village, but have different ideas to accomplish that task.

Incumbents Niko Kanakaris, Jay Kadakia and Harry Leopold and candidates Rosa DeMaertelaere, JR Westberg and Nick Hanson gathered Monday night at Sun City Huntley for their first voter’s forum. The six are running in the April 5 election.

Questions from about the 50 voters who gathered ranged from what ideas candidates had for economic development to their vision for Huntley.

The need for Huntley to attract more business was high on voters’ and candidates’ minds. A question posed to the candidates was what can the village do to entice business to Huntley and what incentives would candidates support?

Here’s how each candidate responded:

Editor's note: The original story incorrectly quoted DeMaertelaer. Huntley Patch regrets the error and is running the following clarification:

DeMaertelaere: What needs to be done is to create more economic development incentive policies as we are now dealing with an increase in both the personal income tax and the corporate tax rate making our business attraction efforts challenging, we have to sell Huntley with our assets. Those assets include a low sales tax, an educated employee work force and open land for development.

Hanson: Dave (Village Manager Dave Johnson) and Margo (Griffin, Huntley's Business Development Coordinator) have done a good job and should continue. He’s not against offering incentives to companies if it benefits Huntley, he said. The village needs to make sure it gets something for incentives, like improving. He feels incentives should be on a case-by-case basis.

Leopold: There are about 20 industrial lots available in on Jim Dhamer Drive. He would be willing to give incentives if the business offered job training or other things that would benefit Huntley, he said. It’s good to attract businesses to the village to balance the tax base and village officials are doing everything they can to do that.

Kadakia: The village has adopted a standard policy to give incentives, but the benefits must outweigh the risks for Huntley.

Kanakaris:  He is 100 percent behind bringing businesses to Huntley. He wouldn’t mind giving incentives upfront if it would help the village long term, he said. He thinks the growth will come once the full interchange at Interstate 90 and Route 47 is completed.

Westberg:  He thinks economic development won’t happen until gas prices go down and the job market recovers. Huntley is ready for industrial growth. He said he is not sure what any one person can do to attract more businesses. Huntley is an attractive place so why wouldn’t companies come?, he said.

Audience members also wanted to know how candidates viewed Home Rule status, which gives municipalities a broader range of authority including the ability to increase sales taxes, and asked whether they would support an effort to make Huntley a home rule community. The status is granted either when a community reaches a population of 25,000 or by referendum.

Leopold said the current village board decided not to seek a referendum several years ago and is waiting for the population to increase, which is expected in the next few years.

The other candidates all supported Home Rule. One audience member said she worried it gave the board too much authority to raise taxes. However, Leopold said that is not the case, pointing to the fact the village has kept taxes low and has a bare bones budget. He added there needs to be more education about what Home Rule entails.

Candidates had different views on what would be the single most important project or piece of legislation they would like to see accomplished if elected:

DeMaertelaere: expand the tax base and bring employers to the village who will help create more jobs.

Hanson: work with Centegra Health Care to build a Level 2 hospital on Haligus and Reed roads and work on the Route 47 and Interstate 90 full interchange.

Leopold: work to get Centegra’s plan approved.

Kadakia: concentrate on rebuilding or improving the village’s infrastructure.

Kanakaris: the full interchange, which will help boost the south end of the Route 47 business corridor.

Westberg: as a commuter, he feels building a commuter rail station is important for Huntley.

The entire forum will be broadcast on Sun City Huntley’s cable channel.

Another forum will be held from 1 to 4pm, Sunday, March 20 at the Huntley Park District, 12015 Mill Street and will be moderated by the League of Women Voters.