The holy grail of economic development is business development. Every community is trying to attract more businesses so that the tax burden is shifted away from homeowners and onto businesses. After reading the news about Schnucks maybe going into Savoy, I did some checking to see how communities in our county are succeeding in this regard. Below are the percentages of the assessed values in our five largest towns (Mahomet, Rantoul, Savoy, Champaign, Urbana) which is commercial or industrial. Match the towns with their percentage.
UPDATE
Urbana   41.7%
Champaign   40.1%
Savoy   35.5%
Rantoul   31.5%
Mahomet    9.4%
Some might question these figures because commercial property includes apartment buildings. Good for homeowners, but may not accurately reflect the tax burden on "people"
Not surprisingly, no one had Urbana at #1.
Overall in the county the percentage is 30.1%.
41.7% Mahomet
40.1% Savoy
35.5% Rantoul
31.5% Urbana
9.4% Champaign
Basically the populations of sad towns, in reverse. Champaign has the most homes, so I'd say the homeowners pay the biggest chunk there.
41.7% - Champaign
40.1% - Savoy
35.5% - Urbana
31.5% - Rantoul
9.4% - Mahomet
Just WAGs.
41.7% - Savoy
40.1% -Mahomet
35.5% - Rantoul
31.5% -Urbana
9.4% - Champaign
These are my guesses, based on the value of homes and the vast numbers of residences in Champaign.
41.7% - Mahomet
40.1% - Urbana
35.5% - Savoy
31.5% - Rantoul
9.4% - Champaign
My guesses based upon where the businesses are.
41.7% - Savoy (Savoy has a lot of C/I compared to R---car dealerships, walmart, savoy 16 complex)
40.1% - Champaign (I would think this has the most C/I of all the remaining cities)
35.5% - Urbana (close behind Champaign)
31.5% - Rantoul (not sure about this one, but the old AFB has a lot of C/I)
9.4% - Mahomet (not as familiar with this city, but I can't recall alot of C/I)
I agree with Gamera
Don't know about the others, but Mahomet has to be the 9.4%. High home values plus lack of business. I'd be shocked if it's one of the higher numbers.
I'm with Gordy.
I need to reverse my earlier predictions as I miss read the quiz.
Champaign - 41.7%
Rantoul - 40.1%
Savoy - 35.5%
Urbana - 31.5%
Mahomet - 9.4%
"I'm with Gordy."
Write it down. ;-)
Every community is trying to attract more businesses so that the tax burden is shifted away from homeowners and onto businesses.
I have no idea about matching these random numbers to random towns, but I do know that the towns with more businesses usually have higher tax rates. In a sane world, where people didn't just believe the obnoxious lies fed to them by developers, one might say that attracting businesses is the worst thing a town can do to decrease tax rates, or to shift the tax burden.
Heck, look at Champaign Schools. The City has been taking it up the ass from every developer who breezes through town, and they are still trying to find the money to upgrade Dr. Howard. At this rate, by the time they put up their third Chilis our kids will be back to one-room schoolhouses with chalk and tablets.
Tax rates, per Country Clerk web site (approx numbers)
Rantoul - 9.0
Urbana - 8.5
Mahomet - 8.0
Champaign - 7.5
Savoy - 6.5
"The City has been taking it up the ass"
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
:-)
After looking at the UPDATE, Gordy and I win. Shall we pick up our prize at your office Mark?
Mahomet needs a nuclear power plant or something.
Wow. I don't know why I'm surprised to see Urbana with the most, given that I live there, and drive down University and Cunningham all the time, but I'm still surprised.
I, too, am looking forward to collecting my prize. Pay up, Mark!
I'd settle for allowing alcohol sales, which is rumored to be in the works. Better late than never....
I wondered about the apartments, but I play Sim City a lot and in that game apartments are zoned Dense Residential.
Live and learn.