Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Politics / Clout City / News David Orr Releases His Annual TIF Report
Posted by Ben Joravsky on Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Cook County Clerk David Orr has just released his annual tax increment financing report, and for the first time in years the news is good for taxpayers — the city's TIF take went down in 2009.
Of course, as with every thing else with the TIF program, it's all a little complicated, so let's break it down a little bit.
In 2009, the city's 160 or so TIF districts diverted about $495.6 million from the schools, park, county, and other taxing bodies, according to Orr's report. That's down from the $555.3 million they diverted in 2008.
That means there's less for Mayor Daley's slush fund and more money for the other government bodies.
But the big reason the TIF take fell may be a one-time deal. The Central Loop TIF closed in December 2008 — after more than 24 years of devouring hundreds of millions in property tax dollars.
Meanwhile, the other TIF districts kept chugging right along. All total, they took in $51 million more than they did in 2008 — an 11.4 percent increase.
Furthermore, it looks as though Mayor Daley's planning to create a TIF to replace the Central Loop, according to the shadow budget that Mick Dumke and I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
Follow me here. In 2008, the City Council approved an $18 million subsidy from the Central Loop TIF to help pay for the long-delayed reconstruction of a building at 118 W. Randolph.
But the Central Loop TIF district expired — with all of its hundreds of millions of dollars spent — before the money could be paid to the developers of that project.
So the city's planning to take those millions from another TIF district, the LaSalle/Central, and send it into a "new TIF" that will fund the project on Randolph, according to the shadow budget, which Mayor Daley refuses to share with the public.
It's not at all certain exactly why the city — with all of its other pressing debts and deficits — needs a new downtown TIF. After all, the Central Loop TIF supposedly transformed the Loop — Block 37 and its underground train station to the contrary. At least that's what Mayor Daley and his allies keep telling us.
Remember the TIF program was intended to fund development in low-income, blighted communities. But because of loopholes in the state law just about any community qualifies — including Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and North Center.
As Orr's report makes clear, the neighborhoods receiving the most in blight-fighting TIF money are the wealthiest. For example, the Roseland/Michigan TIF on the far south side collected $834,203 in 2009. In contrast, the top TIF taker was the Near South TIF, just south of the Loop, which brought in $54.7 million. By the way, Mayor Daley happens to live in that TIF district.
The LaSalle/Central — which runs through the heart of the business district — was second, bringing in about $26 million.
So in the fight against blight in Chicago it's the wealthiest communities with the least amount of blight and the most political connections that get the goodies. Funny how that works.
Anyway, you can read the report by going to the county clerk's Web site.
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"But because of loopholes in the state law just about any community qualifies — including Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and North Center."
I think we need to stop calling them loopholes. It's by careful design that the state TIF law qualifies just about any community in Chicago, the result of expensive lobbying by the Illinois Tax Increment Financing Association.
http://www.illinois-tif.com/
If you understand how the 3-year rotation of re-assessment creates an entirely predictable, spiky, roller coaster curve of valuations, it's a cinch to show that a given area lagged the City-wide average 3 out of the last 5 years. A given property is re-assessed at most once every 3 years; meanwhile, in each of the off-years a full 1/3 of the REST of the City is re-assessed.
More then 1/2 buildings in an area more than 35 years old? That's not a loophole, that's Chicago.
Daley defends special taxing districts as he opens restored North Side bridge
Share | Posted by John Byrne at 3:55 p.m.
Mayor Richard Daley today used the opening of a renovated bridge on the North Side to decry critics of special taxing districts, defending the programs as one of the few tools to help rebuild Chicago's aging infrastructure.
Aldermen who want greater control over how tax increment financing funds are used in their wards are "beating the heck out of us" without appreciating how the money has improved their neighborhoods, Daley said at an event to mark repairs on the Cherry Avenue bridge connecting North Avenue to Goose Island.
The bridge renovation was funded in part using $3.75 million collected from a special taxing district in the area, where property tax collections were frozen to help finance infrastructure repairs.
Daley has been making a point in recent weeks to stand up for the tax programs, which have drawn more attention as the city's finances have worsened as a possible source of revenue to pay police and subsidize other under-funded initiatives.
"Some of the aldermen are questioning it. That's why they're not here today, to be very simple. Because they don't think it should be used for this purpose," Daley said.
Though some aldermen have complained they don't get enough input into which projects receive the tax funding in their wards, Daley insisted his administration works with aldermen to decide how to use the money.
"We'll be getting more and more information out there and make sure, we'll give a full list of all the examples," he said.
Hugh, you're incorrect on the assessment cycle. It's not 1/3 of the city each year. The three years are entire city in one, north burbs in one, south burbs in one.
I'm so fucking glad I moved out of Chicago, it was the best decision I ever made. People should be tired of Daley's bullshit and maybe Chicagoans can create a candidate at Walter Payton H.S. Science Lab from some type of raw materials to run against this guy. He's destroying the city and he needs to move on a go ride his bike in his back yard or somethin! People need to mobilize for better city government and demand excellence for their hard earned tax dollars.
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