TIFs cause your tax increases

TIFs (tax increment financing districts) are created by the Mayor with the acquiescence of the  City Council to pay for improvements within the borders of the TIF, which is supposed to be a blighted area. Property taxes within a TIF are frozen for the life of the TIF—at least 20 years, with extensions possible. That does not mean, however, that the taxes for those who own property there are frozen. In fact, those taxes are not frozen, and go up regularly. What is frozen is the "increment"—the amount that goes to the schools, parks, and public services. Any increase in tax revenue above the increment goes to the TIF fund.

            TIFs operate under very little supervision—in fact, they have been called "a slush fund" that allows Mayor Richard M. Daley and Daley-loyal Aldermen to spend money on whatever they please, essentially without checks and balances. The TIF money can be spent on infrastructure improvements, which is what TIFs originally were designed for. Or, more likely, it can be given to developers, planners, architects, lawyers, and consultants in the form of low-interest loans or professional fees to spur development in the TIF. And aren't we all confident that TIF money will never, ever be handed out to developers and other bigwigs who are cozy with the Mayor and his Council allies?

            In theory, oversight does exist. TIFs must be approved by the City Council, the Community Development Commission (CDC), the Chicago Plan Commission, and the Joint Review Board. Yet all members of those bodies, with the exception of the City Council (and you know how often the council disagrees with the Mayor), are Mayoral appointees or chosen by Mayoral appointees. The CDC, the main player in the TIF game, is a body that is all Daley-appointed. No proposed TIF has ever been rejected by these bodies. So the TIF money goes to the Mayor's Department of Planning and Development to be disbursed, often to the well connected.

            TIFs siphon property taxes away from essential services—including schools, police, garbage pickup—but those services must be paid for. And that is why City and County property taxes go up, up, up. Because money that should be going to essential services is going to the TIF fund—or "slush fund for developers" if you like your explanations without sugar-coating—taxes must go up to pay for the services that would have been paid for with no problem if TIFs had not been created.

            Originally for blighted areas only, TIF districts, numbering more than 130, now cover roughly one-third of the city. Nobody even pretends they are for blighted areas anymore, as TIFs can be found in and around the Loop, Lincoln Park, and other upscale communities.

            So the Mayor's $293 million tax increase package, including $108 million in property tax hikes? County Board President Todd Stroger's nearly $1 billion proposed sales tax increase? Well, in 2003 alone (TIF figures are not easy to come by), City TIFs siphoned off about $287 million in property taxes. Multiply that by the 20-year (and probably longer) lifespan of TIFs, and even the slowest fifth grader in math class could figure out that there should be plenty of money available and that City or County tax increases would not be necessary, if not for the developers' favorite handout fund: the TIF.

            Plenty of money lying around with almost no oversight that the politicians can spend on anything they want. TIFs are an autocrat's dream and a taxpayer's nightmare. Chicagoans started writing this round of property tax checks in November, and would do well to remember that the dollar figures would not be so high if some of our elected officials were not determined to give their rich buddies corporate welfare.

 

Farewell to Chancellor Manning

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” wrote Charles Dickens at the opening of A Tale of Two Cities. Those words also could summarize the eight years Sylvia Manning, PhD, served as chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

            Manning, a noted Dickens scholar who continued to teach and write even after assuming her administrative role at UIC, oversaw substantial growth and progress on campus and beyond. Her leadership strengthened UIC’s relationship with surrounding communities, increased student retention and graduation rates, and ushered in an era of cutting-edge technology and academic excellence.

            During six of her eight years as chancellor, however, the State of Illinois cut funding for UIC. The resulting tuition increases have challenged the institution’s identity as an affordable option for smart, ambitious, working-class students--the vision Mayor Richard J. Daley had for UIC when its Circle Campus opened in 1965. The cuts also have forced UIC to put some building projects on hold for years, defer important facility maintenance, and watch key faculty and staff members leave for comfortable and lucrative positions elsewhere.

            Positive change in the face of dwindling resources requires wisdom, creativity, determination, and careful management. With Sylvia Manning as chancellor, UIC had all those things. She will be greatly missed.

            Our critical public institutions can continue to provide vital education, transportation, healthcare, and infrastructure services under conditions of relentless scarcity only for so long. In what Dickens called the “spring of hope” and the “winter of despair,” it is time for the State to consider what its citizens truly value when planning its budget so our brightest leaders can reach new heights instead of having to anguish over uncertainty.