Mokena trustees approve incentive agreement with Gordon Electric Supply

By JON DEPAOLIS, Publisher

MOKENA, Ill. — With Mayor Frank Fleischer absent, the Village of Mokena Board of Trustees unanimously approved an economic incentive agreement with a Mokena-based business that will allow it to remain in town.

The sales tax-sharing agreement was approved by a 6-0 vote with Trustee George Metanias serving as mayor pro-tem for the meeting. According to a Village news release, Fleischer was taken to the hospital for testing on Feb. 11 following a fall at his home.

Mokena Economic Development Director Matt Ziska told the board members that Gordon Electric Supply, currently located at 19240 Everett Lane, received a special use permit from the Village in December 2021 to build a 54,781-square-foot facility with outdoor storage in the Corporate Corridors North Business Park near 88th Avenue and Springlake Drive.

“[The economic incentive program] was a program that was initially authorized by the board in 2006 as a means of attracting sales tax-generating businesses to a predominantly industrial business park,” he said. “As part of this program, the Village agrees to a 50-50 split of the 1% non-home rule sales tax revenue that we typically collect. This has been a very popular program, so much so that the board authorized a 15-year extension in 2019. Past beneficiaries include M. Cooper Supply, Accelerate Indoor Speedway, [Central Illinois Trucks], Point Blank, and … ABC Supply.”

Ziska said Gordon Electric has been a Top 30 sales tax generator for the Village for the past three years.

“Keeping that in Mokena was incredibly important,” he noted.

As the company grew and needed more space, one of the ways to do so was the economic incentive agreement program in the Corporate Corridors North area.

“This process will allow us to distribute these funds annually without further board action,” Ziska said. “The petitioners hope to begin construction on the building later this year with occupancy expected to occur sometime in early 2023.

“In order to be eligible for the fund reimbursement, Gordon Electric will need to be in good standing with all of the terms of their special use permit ordinance."

The terms of the incentive agreement exclude the half-percent of 1% non-home rule sales tax designated for road infrastructure.

No questions were asked by the board members prior to the vote.