Highwood council approves reallocation of roughly $735,000 private-activity bond cap to Buffalo Grove

Highwood — The City of Highwood City Council voted Feb. 17 to reallocate its 2026 private activity bond volume cap to the village of Buffalo Grove, a move council said will allow Lake County partners to pool local authority for economic development projects.

A staff member explained that the state of Illinois gives each municipality a per-capita allotment for private activity bonds, which are used to support manufacturing, multifamily housing and other economic development projects. The staff member said the allotment associated with Highwood’s share is "about 735,000." Council members asked whether the projects would receive municipal bond rates or private rates; the staff member said they did not know.

The resolution to reallocate the volume cap was moved and seconded at the meeting and carried. The motion-language on the agenda directed the city to give its 2026 allotment to Buffalo Grove so that Lake County could combine local allotments when a qualifying project is identified.

Council did not record a named mover or seconder in the transcript. During the roll call on the motion several council members were called and their votes recorded in sequence; the chair announced the motion passes.

The council did not specify the statutory citation for the state program during discussion; staff referred generally to the state allowance for per-capita private activity bond allotments. The city did not detail how pooled allotments would be allocated to a specific project, and no project-specific recipient or timetable was identified.

The council’s action is procedural: it transfers Highwood’s bonding authority for 2026 to another municipal entity for county-level economic development pooling. The item does not by itself authorize borrowing, bonding or project contracts. The council moved on to other business after the vote.