Cook County 6B Program

The Cook County 6b program reduces the overall property tax bill for industrial and warehouse buildings over the course of 12 years. Under the 6b program, qualifying properties will be assessed at 10% of market value for the first 10 years, 15% in the 11th year, and 20% in the 12th year. In the year 13, the property is assessed at the normal assessed value of 25% of market value.

Real estate is eligible for Class 6b status if it is used primarily for "industrial purposes" and is either (a) new construction, (b) substantial rehabilitation, or (c) substantial re-occupancy of "abandoned" property.

Program Documents

• Village of Northbrook's Cook County Class 6b Application Form (PDF)
• Cook County Class 6B Eligibility Bulletin (PDF)
• Cook County Class 6B Eligibility Application (PDF)
• Summary of Cook County's Class 6b Process for Projects involving:
  • "Substantial Re-Occupancy of Abandoned Property" or "Substantial Rehabilitation and Re-Occupancy of Abandoned Property" (PDF)
  • "New Construction" or "Substantial Rehabilitation" (PDF)

For more information regarding the Cook County Class 6B Classification Incentive, contact David Schoon, Economic Development Coordinator at 847-664-4052, or by email.

Industrial Revenue Bonds

Are you a local manufacturing business looking to improve your property, reuse or redevelop an existing facility, or expand your business? If so, you may be interested in industrial revenue bonds.

Industrial revenue bonds (IRBs) provide long term, low interest financing to manufacturing firms for capital projects such as new development, equipment purchases, real estate acquisition and major renovations for businesses involving manufacturing processes. The bonds are issued under the auspices of the Village of Northbrook, and therefore, all interest is exempt from federal income taxes. Interest rates are generally 30-40% less than the prevailing prime lending rates. The Village gives funding priority to applications that demonstrate property improvement, reuse or redevelopment of existing facilities, job creation/retention, business expansion, and property tax generation, or attraction of new industries to the Village.

The primary benefit of IRB financing is that it allows the manufacturing entity to achieve substantial interest savings over conventional financing. There are some application fees, and the transaction process can be more cumbersome than conventional financing. However, for the right borrower IRBs can be very beneficial. Usually it is not cost effective to the borrower to issue less than $1 million in IRBs at a time.

IRS regulations limit the use of IRBs to manufacturers or facilities that are used by not-for-profit (501(c)(3)) companies. With respect to manufacturers, at least 95% of the bond proceeds must be used toward expenditures related to the manufacturing process and no more than 25% of the proceeds can be used to purchase land.

If you are interested in IRB financing , please contact Jeff Rowitz, Chief Financial Officer/Deputy Village Manager at 847-272-5050, ext. 4030 or by email.

Other Incentives

If your business does not qualify for any of the above programs, please contact the Development and Planning Services Department. We are happy to discuss your needs and determine if the Village of another governmental entity may be able to assist you.