September 06, 2017The head of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says the state has a real shot at luring a huge new Toyota plant here, believe it or not.
In an interview, chamber President and CEO Todd Maisch confirmed talk that the automaker, in partnership with another Japanese car manufacturer, Mazda, has "really zeroed in" on a site in Rochelle, which is near Rockford in northwest Illinois. And the odds of winning are significantly greater than they were with Foxconn, which considered Illinois for a massive new electronics plant that appears to be headed to southern Wisconsin.
"The Toyota thing is much more real than Foxconn," said Maisch, whose group is well connected with the Rauner administration, which has taken the lead in efforts to win the Toyota plant. "I believe we still are in play."
Toyota and Mazda have said the plant would cost $1.6 billion and employ up to 4,000 workers. The companies are known to have been pitched other Illinois locations, including near Ford's South Side Torrence Avenue factory, but the companies want at least 800 acres. "That means they need a greenfield location," Maisch said, ruling out the South Side.
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Intersect Illinois, the state's economic development organization, have said almost nothing about the Toyota hunt, not wanting to risk offending the often secretive automaker. But Rauner recently disclosed that he'll soon be headed to Asia, specifically to China and Japan, which would give him a chance to make a personal pitch to top company officials.
Beyond that, after months of back and forth, lawmakers finally have sent Rauner a bill to revive Illinois' main jobs incentive program, the Edge payroll tax credit. That program alone wouldn't provide anything near the $3 billion in incentives Wisconsin has agreed to give Foxconn, but would shore up Illinois' bona fides as a partner willing to bring something to the table.
Maisch said the fact that the state now has a budget and Edge, and may soon resolve a standoff over funding for public grade and high schools, gives him something to sell to prospective companies. "Once we get education out of the way, one of the chamber's top goals will be to try to leverage Edge and Foxconn," which may hire Illinois residents and use some Illinois suppliers, he said.
The remaining big piece of state business is paying off Illinois' $15 billion backlog of bills now that income taxes have been raised as part of the budget deal, Maisch said.
"This fiscal instability is number one in employers' concerns," he said. "What I'm hearing now is disgust: 'You raised our taxes and you didn't solve the problem.' "
Maisch suggested a portion of the revenues from the tax hike will be used to finance a bond that would pay off several billion dollars in that backlog, as Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza wants. Rauner so far has blocked that concept, fearing the state is just running up more debt, but Maisch said he sees "valid points on both sides." He added, "I understand the governor's concerns . . . but I understand the comptroller's feeling that this is the best of a bunch of bad choices."
Source: Crain's Chicago Business (www.chicagobusiness.com)
