Incentives

Assistance & Development

The Village of Park Forest uses various forms of assistance and development incentives for the following purposes:

• Attracting new businesses to the village
• Helping existing businesses expand
• Helping start-up businesses get underway

These incentives are designed to help the village achieve the long-term goals of expanding the property and sales tax base, providing new jobs to village residents, and providing for the enhancement of the quality of life in the community while at the same time meeting the legitimate cost concerns of companies locating or expanding in a specific location.

 Availability

Incentives are available directly from the following bodies:

• Cook County
• Federal government
• State of Illinois
• Will County

When appropriate, the village will work with a qualified business to assist them in obtaining non-village incentives. Village incentives are negotiated case-by-case basis, with consideration given to the type of company and the location within the village. Incentives may include the following benefits:

• Enterprise Zone
• Infrastructure improvements
• Property tax relief
• Sale tax refunds
• Tax increment financing (where available)

Policies

Any business interested in pursuing a development incentive from the village, or other governmental entity, should seek information about the incentive as early in the planning process as possible. Many of these incentives are granted on a “but for” basis. In other words, the incentive is only granted if the business can demonstrate that “but for” the incentive, the project could not proceed. Therefore, in many cases, if any work is initiated on the project prior to the approval of an incentive, the property owner may disqualify themselves from that incentive.

Access the following documents for more information:

• Development incentive application
• Development incentive policy