From yesterday’s Sun Times: Tax Increment financing should be used to create jobs in “blighted communities”— not to reward downtown developers, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday, vowing to take the “politics out of” former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s favorite economic development tool. Emanuel has asked former CTA Board Chair and municipal finance expert Carole Brown…
AG Accepts Request for Review of RFP Change
The Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC) has accepted a Request for Review of a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act (OMA) by the City of DeKalb in April.
Expenditure Info, Central Area TIF Annual Reports FY2008-10
The following table was developed using the itemized expenditures pages of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) annual reports, Central TIF (TIF 1) only. [table id=15 /]
TIF Rally in Downtown Chicago
Community leaders voiced support yesterday for a re-evaluation of how TIF funds are allocated in Chicago. Gathered in front of the Chicago Board of Trade, 141 W. Jackson, they stressed the need for tax-increment financing money in neighborhoods and questioned the reasoning behind TIF funds for successful multi-million dollar corporations. The Mercantile Exchange received $15…
Sales Tax Losses in Central Area TIF
Figures are pulled from annual fiscal year TIF reporting of “revenue deposited in fund during the reporting year.” [table id=14 /] See p. 117 of the FY2012 proposed budget for the FY2012 sales tax projections for the Central Area TIF. The sales tax portions of TIF revenue will be discontinued in 2013.
Advance Auto
Photo taken May 10. Watch for more soon, along with a sign permit update.
The Egyptian, TIF, & the Survival Budget
The Daily Chronicle published my comments on this lovely Friday the 13th. In Thursday’s editorial, “Egyptian worth the investment,” the Daily Chronicle’s editorial board asserted that an improved Egyptian Theatre would be a plus for downtown. I agree. However, something’s been missed in the analysis: a peek into our collective wallet.
City of DeKalb’s EAV Plunge, Part 2
Click on the image for a larger version, and once more for the largest. Each “Decline” was calculated by subtracting Tax Year 2010 from the peak year shown. Usually the peak came in 2008, but not in all cases. Should we really be budgeting new TIF projects for FY2012?
City of DeKalb’s EAV Plunge, Part 1
The City of DeKalb FY2012 budget draft proposal (p. 23) says: FY2012 Revenue Highlights: Property Tax Revenues are expected increase approximately 4.35 percent due to a tax increase from 60 cents to 65 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation. It should be noted that revenues received from the property tax only go toward the…
City & School District TIF Surplus Budget Estimates
[table id=13 /] The school district is allocating its share for debt service, while the City of DeKalb’s will be dropped into the General Fund. One might ask why the city has projected $670,000 for FY2012 since the October estimates came in $528,200 under its preliminary estimates. At least two factors must be at play:…