EDGEWATER — As long as it's not another mattress store, Ald. Harry Osterman is in favor of more local businesses moving into the 48th ward — a plan that could fall apart if the mayor's $500 million property tax hike comes to fruition, he predicts.
During his address to Edgewater neighbors about the state of the ward Tuesday night, Osterman took a break to celebrate the Cubs' victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. His son handed him a "W" flag on stage.
"I'm glad the Cubs won, but I've also got other reasons. Because every time there's a Cubs game in Chicago, that's more money for the city of Chicago for amusement tax, for sales tax, all that stuff. So the more they win, the more and more money we'll bring in," he said.
It was a light-hearted moment amid a serious discussion of how Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed 2016 city budget, which includes a proposed $500 million property tax hike, will throw off-kilter the economic development underway in the Far North community.
Osterman told residents the city's legal obligation to pay $672 million in police and fire pensions, which must begin to be reimbursed before a "death spiral" overtakes the city's finances.
In order to do that, Emanuel proposed a property tax increase that would unfold over the next few years, with property owners seeing a $318 million increase in 2015, $109 million in 2016, $53 million in 2017 and $63 million in 2018.
It's estimated that the tax increase would cost the owner of a $250,000 home an additional $588 per year when fully implemented.
The neighborhood is seeing less vacant storefronts and is in a period of "growing," he said, citing the opening of the new Whole Foods, Pork Shoppe and Pearl's Southern Comfort — all of which opened this year.
Other areas of economic focus, like North Broadway, Clark St. north of Ridge Ave. and Devon Ave. between Broadway and Clark, need to be primed for business owners, not left empty, he said.
The consequences of such an increase would not only weaken the ability for new businesses to open in Edgewater but also threaten to drive away longtime residents, both homeowners and renters alike, who will likely bear the brunt of multi-unit property tax spikes.
"I am very, very concerned about what the affect of the size of that property tax would do for our community," Osterman said.
"I've lived here my entire life, I grew up on Rosedale. It means something to me the commitment neighbors have had on our neighborhood, and I do not want people who have lived here their entire lives, who were involved when it wasn't such a great neighborhood, who busted their rear ends to all of a sudden get forced out because of property taxes," he said.
Osterman said he and other officials are working to exhaust every option aside from approving the mayor's 2016 budget as is, but he's not yet decided how he will ultimately vote on the bill.
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