This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Tech Company Pulls Plug On Intentions to Move to Northbrook

Village board grants Microlink Devices a lesser tax break than it wanted.

The Northbrook Village trustees voted up a tax incentive to a high-tech semiconductor manufacturer, hoping that the company would move into a vacant property in Sky Harbor Business Park — but it’s not exactly the incentive the firm was looking for, and now its pulling the plug.

The business, MicroLink Devices, was interested in a 12-year property tax exemption to offset the costs of manufacturing domestically. Noren Pan, president and CEO of MicroLink Devices based in Niles, told the trustees they could grant the exemption, or he could move his growing company overseas. The 6b tax exemption would have applied to the current assessed property value of the building at 300 Wainwright in Northbrook’s industrial district.

“I have received offers to relocate my manufacturing facility to China and Singapore. And just to give you trustees an idea of what we’re talking about, if I decide to relocate there, the incentives are far substantial than what I can get here from the state of Illinois,” Pan said. “First of all, land would be granted. Second of all, the manufacturing facility would be 50 percent subsidized — as well as 50 percent for capital equipment.” MicroLink Devices manufactures semiconductor products in mobile phones and solar cells, and has 33 high-paid technical employees, according to Pan. The company’s goal was to expand to 75 employees as it grew into the 41,453 square-foot vacant building in Northbrook during the next two years.

Find out what's happening in Northbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Economic Development Coordinator David Schoon that he estimated Northbrook would forego a total of $811,600 in property taxes from MicroLink in the next 13 years if the 6b exemption were approved. That includes $219,300 in foregone taxes for School District 225; $314,700 in foregone taxes for District 27; and $49,500 in foregone taxes for the village.

The Cook County tax exemption 6B is usually reserved for properties that have been vacant or abandoned for 24 months. The building in question has been vacant less than six months, a fact that gave the village trustees pause.

Find out what's happening in Northbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Trustee Todd Heller said that while the company’s relocation to Northbrook would be a good thing, he and other trustees were opposed to the proposed incentive because it simply did not meet the criteria. Other taxing bodies of Northbrook had mixed opinions on the exemption as well. School District 225 supported the idea, District 27 opposed it, and the public library found no objection. The Industrial Development Commission and the Economic Development Committee agreed to an alternative, which the trustees ultimately approved Tuesday.  

It’s a lesser incentive than what MicroLink Devices had in mind. The alternative grants an exemption on the taxes applied to the improvements MicroLink Devices would make on the building, rather than the assessment based on the entire property. That translates to an estimated $6,300 to $9,400 tax savings per year for the company versus the original estimated $70,000 per year incentive it was hoping for.

Just before the vote, Village Trustee president Sandra Frum said other options for incentives for MicroLink Devices could be explored in the future, pending the forming of an ad-hoc committee. But based on the company’s stand following the vote, that won’t be necessary. 

MicroLink Devices vice president David McCallum commented for the company following the trustees’ decision.

“MicroLink is very disappointed by the outcome of the Northbrook Board of Trustees' vote.  The full value of the 6(b) tax incentive was necessary to make it financially feasible for MicroLink to relocate to Northbrook.  For the moment, MicroLink will remain in its Niles facility.  The company will seek a new facility elsewhere in the Chicago area.”  

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?