Illinois Association Meets Gubernatorial Candidate

Illinois Association of Self Storage Sees Eye to Eye with Governor Candidate On Controversial Bill

In exciting news for the Self Storage industry, Illinois gubernatorial candidate, Senator Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, granted a meeting to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Self Storage Association (ISSA) on July 7, 2010. Members and directors of the ISSA are concerned about the proposed new service tax that is a part of a package of proposed taxes for Illinois over the coming year. Once passed, this service tax bill could add as much as a six percent sales tax to all operating self storage facilities and services throughout the state of Illinois. The bill, originally known as Senate Bill 750, has experienced strong opposition from the ISSA and the many owner-operators of self storage facilities throughout the state of Illinois since its introduction 12 months prior.

Originally, Senate Bill 750 was intended to create the Illinois School District Property Tax Relief Fund. It would serve to finance educational initiatives in the state of Illinois, as championed by the bill's leading proponent, Senator James Meeks. Although the original SB 750 did not make it past the Senate and into the House, Senator Meeks found House Bill 174 to be a ready messenger to carry forward his intentions for SB 750 and added the language from the original SB 750 into HB 174 in the form of an amendment. Senator Meeks was delighted when the newly amended HB 174 passed the Senate vote and is now championing it in the House, where it awaits final consideration.

Senator Meeks was the original sponsor of the bill, intended to fund education. It would do this by accomplishing a restructuring of Illinois' state tax to better support public schools throughout the state. The primary vehicle that was chosen was through assessing a sales tax on self storage rentals. It was thought that this move would shift dependence away from property tax based income that has been the state's primary source of educational funding in past years. Once passed, it was estimated that the bill would reduce property taxes by $2.5 billion, yet raise taxes as a whole by approximately $7.2 billion. Individual taxpayers, as well as administrators of trusts and estates, would all experience increases in taxes from two to four percent as a result of the bill.

The ISSA launched an aggressive campaign that strongly encouraged all interested parties in the self storage industry throughout the state of Illinois to start a campaign to fight the passage of HB 174. The campaign included asking all interested parties to initiate phone and letter writing contacts to all of their state senators and representatives explaining the heavy burden HB 174 will place on the self storage industry and urging them to vote down the controversial bill. Perhaps even more importantly, the ISSA exhorted all self storage owners and operators to reach out to their customers and tenants to explain the impact that HB 174 will have on their bottom line if the six percent tax reform is voted in during the next legislative session.

While opposition has remained intense during the progress of the bill through the Senate and now the House, for the first time members of the ISSA and independent owners and operators of self storage facilities throughout Illinois have a real sign of hope in the meeting between the ISSA and Senator Bill Brady. Senator Brady has stated that he does not support the new proposed tax structure. He is a vigorous opponent to HB 174 and the Illinois School District Property Tax Relief Fund as it is currently structured. He has made a verbal promise that, upon election, he will not support a service tax against self storage owners and operators. As a small business owner himself through his construction company and self storage business, Senator Brady understands all too well the impact this bill will have on the self storage industry and has added voting it down as an objective of primary importance to his campaign platform.

After the meeting with Senator Brady, the ISSA Board enthusiastically voted to support and officially endorse his campaign. The ISSA has also forwarded Senator Brady a formal endorsement letter and is encouraging all ISSA members to endorse, support, and campaign for Senator Brady's bid for the governor's seat.

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Scott Meyers, CSSM© is the President and Owner of Indianapolis Based Alcatraz Storage™.  He is also a national speaker and trainer in the field of Commercial Real Estate and Self Storage Investing through his company SelfStorageInvesting.com. To reach him, or to invite him to speak, call 866-693-5999; email Scott@SelfStorageInvesting.com; or find him online by visiting<http://www.SelfStorageInvesting.com>  and downloading his FREE Ebook!