North Perry terminates utility reimbursement for businesses

This change does not impact the policy covering costs for residents

North Perry Village has ended a program in which the community’s government would reimburse eligible businesses for certain utility bills that they pay.

Council, during its Feb. 2 meeting, voted unanimously to repeal a 17-year-old ordinance that set up the reimbursement plan as an economic development incentive.

The ordinance, approved on Nov. 3, 2005, allowed businesses to ask that their water, sewer and garbage-pickup costs be reimbursed by North Perry Village government.

Village Solicitor James O’Leary said the payment program, which originally was meant to be an economic development tool, had come under scrutiny at some recent council meetings.

In fact, council voted at its Jan 5 meeting to deny a commercial utility payment request made through the program by Cooper Black LLC.

Few businesses in the village had taken advantage of the program since its inception, said O’Leary, who was not North Perry’s solicitor when the ordinance was approved.

“We’re not finding that the program is a real draw,” he said. “There are other reasons why people want to relocate businesses here.”

However, the original ordinance wasn’t abolished simply because the program lacked popularity.

“The thing that occurred to us when we had a recent submission that we denied was there really wasn’t sufficient criteria on which to make the decision — how are you going to do this?” O’Leary said.

In addition, the solicitor said council always could ask for a new ordinance to be drawn up, if the panel decides to bring back a plan that

“There are other reasons why people want to relocate businesses here.” — Village Solicitor James O’Leary

reimburses businesses for utility expenses.

“If council wants to do it, I would rewrite that ordinance with more clarity as to the purpose, as well as the criteria to approve those submissions,” O’Leary said.

Council’s repeal of the ordinance regarding utility payments for businesses has no impact on the village’s longstanding policy to cover the costs of sewer, water and garbagepickup services for people who live in the community.

“If you are already receiving (reimbursement from the village for these same bills) as a resident, that’s a separate issue,” O’Leary said.