Economic Development A Focus in LeClerq's State of the Village Address

The Oswego Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee State of the Village Breakfast was a who’s who of local officials early Friday morning at Oswego East High School.

Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross, state senators Linda Holmes and Kay Hatcher and various village officials all came to listen to Village President Brian LeClercq deliver a 30-minute speech that touched on topics like economic development, a major public improvement project and local taxation.

LeClercq reached out to the Oswego business community, which made up the majority of the audience members in the school’s auditorium. 

“It’s really important now more than ever that the business community and government bodies get together,” he said. “… It’s really up to you if you have issues to discuss them with your legislative committee so that we can take action where we need to, because we work for you. Our job is not to encumber you but to do all we can to ensure that everyone is successful.”

LeClercq also highlighted some of the economic development activity in the village since those efforts were taken in-house last year after the collapse of the Oswego Economic Development Corp. The village’s newly hired director Tony Lucenko has made 118 industrial/office development contacts, 94 retail/commercial contacts and 134 business retainment contacts since September.

“Something that is very important to us are the businesses that are in town,” he said. “Yes, we want to grow new business, but it’s very important to keep the businesses that have already invested so much in town.”

Road projects were another the topics LeClercq discussed. He said the village made about $700,000 in road improvements in 2011, and is looking forward to the resurfacing of tattered Wolf’s Crossing Road from Route 71 through Harvey Road in 2012. That project, which will cost about $1 million, could begin in the spring. LeClercq reiterated that the widening of the road is still years away.

“That’s a $35 million project, so if any of you have your checkbooks open, we’re taking donations,” he joked.

The resurfacing project will be funded mostly by state grants, and the village will work with Oswego Township to complete it, LeClercq said.

LeClercq also briefly touched on taxation at the village level. He said the village’s increased sales tax rate brought in an additional $1.7 million in the last fiscal year, enabling the board to remove some of the taxation load from property taxes.

“We thought collectively as a board that by increasing that sales tax we could shift some of the burden from our residents onto people that come into the village and use our services and our roads,” LeClercq said.