Lion Electric incentives get rolling

The city of Joliet this week became the first of four taxing bodies to vote on the local tax incentive package for The Lion Electric Company.

The Joliet City Council on Tuesday voted 7-0 for the five-year, 50% property tax abatement that is tied to Lion Electric’s ability to employ 1,400 workers over four years.

“That’s all Lion asked for,” Councilman Larry Hug, chairman of the Economic Development Committee, said, noting that the abatement is a standard package the city has provided other industrial projects.

Most of the other projects have been warehouses and distribution centers.

“These are factory jobs. They’re not just logistics,” Hug said.

Lion Electric is developing a manufacturing plant with the capacity to produce 20,000 electric buses and trucks a year at site under construction at 3835 Youngs Road near the Joliet boundary with Channahon.

Other taxing districts being asked to approve the same abatement package are Will County, Troy School District, and Minooka Community High School District.

All three are expected to vote on the abatement in July.

A Will County Board committee last week gave preliminary approval to the abatement. But a vote that had been planned for the full county board on Thursday has been postponed until the board’s July meeting.

The state of Illinois is providing $7.9 million in tax credits for the project tied to Lion Electric’s projection of 742 jobs by the third year of operation.