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TIFs to the rescue?

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Illinois

* Could TIF surpluses avert a teachers strike? Maybe, says the Tribune…

With an Oct. 11 strike date looming, sources on both sides privately have expressed guarded optimism that a deal can get done.

Emerging as a likely key to any pact is how much money from the special taxing district Emanuel is willing to direct to Chicago Public Schools. […]

“The settlement hinges on money coming from a development slush fund into the public school system,” CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said last week. “That’s what the settlement hinges on. It’s about the money.” […]

Last year, the amount declared as surplus was particularly large at $113 million, with CPS getting more than half. But pressure to direct more funding from TIFs to schools grew in June, when Cook County Clerk David Orr reported that the city’s total take in 2015 from 146 tax districts grew by $89 million, to $461 million. […]

Sharkey said if CPS received its share of the total overall surplus, not just the $32 million that has been budgeted, “there’d be enough money to pay for a whole number of things that we’re asking for.”

As the mayor says in the story, however, this isn’t a longterm solution.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:06 pm

Comments

“It’s all about the money.” Really?!?! What else would it be about?

I’m against any solution that isn’t a long-term solution. It took years for these TIF balances to be built, and spending them all at once is a horrible way to deal with this ‘crisis.’

Comment by Not It Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:22 pm
I doubt we’d spend all the TIF money just on making sure kids get educated in this city. There’s got to be way more money there than that would take.

Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:37 pm
===As the mayor says in the story, however, this isn’t a longterm solution===

A TIF basically stripped revenues from the school district in the first place. If taking funding from TIF districts and providing them back to schools isn’t along term solution because the TIF will eventually expire, and those funds will be available to the school district like they previously were.

Comment by Anon Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:37 pm
Sounds like a positive development. Makes a lot more sense now why Rahm delayed the vote on the TIF surplus in September.

Comment by Chicagonk Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:50 pm
This is a gimmick to placate the fools in CTU. This will do virtually nothing to make CPS solvent.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:53 pm
I thought this was not just about money. Greedy and very “well” paid teachers.

Comment by Groucho Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:59 pm
After all of the funds from the TIF’s are drained out and paid to the CTU members what happens in later years? Will the pay increases paid with TIF money in the first year be rescinded in the second year of the contract? If draining the TIF funds is repeated in later years of the CTU contract, will any of the proposed improvements in the TIF districts, the nominal reason for TIF districts, be funded?

Comment by Small town taxpayer Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:03 pm
===As the mayor says in the story, however, this isn’t a longterm solution.===

True, but the Mayor hasn’t presented a longterm solution to CPS at any point in the last five plus years, instead he’s gone with the quick fix every single time.

Comment by From the 'Dale to HP Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:04 pm
Hey, Illinois is the poster child for short-term budget solutions. That’s how we go. This gets the CTU and Mayor Rahm out of a strike which could be risky to both, keeps the schools open, and prevents yet another property tax increase in the near future. Plus, those TIF revenues (nearly half a billion in 2015?) were pretty outrageous to be kept in a separate stash.

Could Chicago pols be waiting for Superman in the form of a bankruptcy judge who tells them how to fund the schools long term. Seems possible.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:13 pm
The long term fix is ending g CTU. CPS has 14,000 fewer students this year than last. There will be quite a few layoffs.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:14 pm
TIF is used to upgrade schools and parks, fund affordable housing and community development and update CTA. Terrible stuff for sure.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:15 pm
– As the mayor says in the story, however, this isn’t a longterm solution. –

Unfortunately, when was the last time someone in power in Illinois actually gave a legitimate try at coming up with a long term solution? It’s always about the next election or the next budget cycle and fairy dust.

Comment by Ahoy! Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:19 pm
It would be fascinating to lift the lid on TIFs which function as a mayoral “slush fund” in Chicago.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:21 pm
I didn’t say they were all bad, Ron. I just said, that’s an awful lot of money to keep in a separate piggybank when the schools need money.

We have to pay the pensions, and we have to deal with public employee unions. Like it or not.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:23 pm
Complete lie Anonymous. Use of TIF must be approved by the full City council

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:25 pm
This puts things in a different light. Rahm has been saying “state, bail us out, we’re broke”. Meanwhile, Rahm has a big pile of money that was largely skimmed off of school taxes? This is not going to go over well in the collar counties where school tax money actually goes to the schools.

Comment by DuPage Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:36 pm
TIF takes $0 from CPS. It is essentially another tax. CPS raises it’s own taxes through the property taxes. It’s amazing how clueless people are. And Rahm doesn’t control TIF, the City Council does.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:42 pm
And the City Council would prefer to do another tax increase? They pretty much line up behind Mayor Rahm most of the time, but I’d say, this one would be easy.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:48 pm
=After all of the funds from the TIF’s are drained out and paid to the CTU members what happens in later years? Will the pay increases paid with TIF money in the first year be rescinded in the second year of the contract? If draining the TIF funds is repeated in later years of the CTU contract, will any of the proposed improvements in the TIF districts, the nominal reason for TIF districts, be funded?=

I would assume, the big developers might actually have to use their own funds when they build new vanity projects. I would think $150 million to educate the city’s kids would be a lot better spent than $200 million to build a DePaul arena.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:52 pm
CPS just announced about 300 layoffs due to dropping enrollment.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:54 pm
The problem with your statement Carhartt is that pensions don’t educate.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:56 pm
And $200million of TIF is not going to the mcpier owned arena that DePaul is helping finance.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:57 pm
===I would think $150 million to educate the city’s kids would be a lot better spent than $200 million to build a DePaul arena.===

Sigh. Using capital dollars for operations is a bad idea. Using your figures, the $150 million is being borrowed in the form of bonds backed and repaid using the TIF revenues. Why anybody would want to borrow $150 million to pay teachers for one year, then spend the next 25 years paying that money back, is beyond me.

Ben Joravsky, who knows better, continues to confuse and inflame the debate. Read the Tribune story carefully, it says the city might consider declaring all non-committed TIF dollars as “surplus.” That is not the same thing as draining all of the TIF accounts and spending that money at CPS.

And again, for the 100th time, the events center is NOT getting TIF money. It’s getting MPEA bond proceeds (which are backed by hotel taxes and can’t be spent on schools either).

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:58 pm
“TIF takes $0 from CPS. It is essentially another tax. CPS raises it’s own taxes through the property taxes. It’s amazing how clueless people are. And Rahm doesn’t control TIF, the City Council does.”
————-

That’s not correct.

What TIF does do is to divide the taxable assessed value on each parcel of property into a TIF district into 2 categories: (a) TIF Base (Frozen) Value, and (b) TIF Increment value.

Ex.: 400,000 taxable value of a property
TIF Frozen Value: 50,000
TIF Increment: 350,000

Total tax rate for area where property is located:

Example: $8.00 per $100 taxable value

400,000 x 8.00 / 100 = $ 32,000.00 in RE taxes
50,000 x 8.00 / 100 = $ 4,000.00 to tax districts
350,000 x 8.00 / 100 = $ 28,000.00 to TIF district.

The above is a simple math example of how a parcel with a $400,000 taxable assessment sees their real estate taxes actually be distributed.

Yes, a substantial portion of the $28,000 would otherwise go to CPS. Why? Because a substantial portion of the composite RE tax rate that is being applied to the property actually would come from the CPS portion of the tax rate. So yes, they CPS (as well as all the other non-TIF tax districts) are losing money.

I am very, very, very familiar with the math on this RE tax stuff….

Comment by Anon Downstate Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:04 pm
=TIF is used to upgrade schools and parks, fund affordable housing and community development and update CTA. Terrible stuff for sure.=

Ron, are you actually just unaware of what a TIF is? It does indeed take property tax that would go to the school district and sends it to such worthwhile causes as a $200 million arena for DePaul basketball games that don’t draw 200 people, building a grocery store across the street from another grocery store, and a $60 million high school across the street from another high school.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:06 pm
This is not a solution in any way. It hardly kicks the can down the road.

IF a TIF is a worthy TIF, the incremental property tax growth funds (incremental assessed evaluation growth- i.e. property tax growth) are, by law and by according to the respective TIF Plan, are to be utilized for projects which increase the property values of the defined TIF area.

Comment by LarryMullholland Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:17 pm
Carhartt, yes I do know how TIF works. You clearly don’t though. CPS has its own taxing authority and raises. TIF in no way stops cps from raising taxes. Which cps has done under Rahm every single year he’s been in office. The problem is CTU has an insatiable appetite for more taxes.

And again, $200 million of TIF not be used to build the city owned arena that DePaul is contributing to and will use intermittently.

Are you referring to Englewood and the new Wholefoods? Alderman Thomson was a huge proponent of TIF going to infrastructure work at the site

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:21 pm
Ron, there are zero city dollars going into the events center. No TIF, not a dime from the city, much less anything from CPS. The hotel? Yes, the city used $55 million from TIF proceeds to purchase the land and subsidize the project. MPEA will own the hotel, which will also generate hotel taxes and bring people into the neighborhood, which is presumably good for area businesses. Right now, most convention attendees leave the area after the show. This hotel will keep 1200 of them there, plus those staying at the Hyatt, etc.

So, in sum, zero city dollars for the MPEA’s events center. Not $200 million. No TIF funds. MPEA is paying for roughly half the cost of building the events center, DePaul is paying the other half.

MPEA, even if it wanted to, couldn’t spend any of this money on schools.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:31 pm
47th, I think you mean Carhartt. He’s the one claiming $200 million of TIF is going to DePaul.

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:35 pm
Sorry Ron. Thanks for the clarification.

Carhart and anyone else who thinks MPEA bonds ought to go to CPS needs a primer on municipal finance.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:38 pm
” TIF in no way stops cps from raising taxes. Which cps has done under Rahm every single year he’s been in office. The problem is CTU has an insatiable appetite for more taxes.”
————–

True, TIF by itself does not stop CPS from raising taxes. But that’s not the whole story. CPS has a 2 fold problem.

First off, Tax Caps limits what CPS can raise yearly from RE taxes. And it’s really small change. The only way around that is by referendum. Which is a whole another layer of complexity.

Secondly, what TIF does to is to take virtually any increases in taxable value (within each TIF district, and there’s a whole bunch of them) and treat that increase as “TIF Increment”, and that increase in taxable value (and eventually in calculated RE taxes) goes only to the TIF District.

The comment about CPS having an insatiable appetite for RE taxes isn’t totally accurate. What CPS really appears to want isn’t local RE taxes as much as state money. That way the City leadership (and Democratic pols) don’t take as much of a political hit from their local taxpayers.

If City of Chicago taxpayers (actually, all of Cook County) had to pay school district tax rates that the rest of the state (outside of Cook) is currently paying, there would probably be a revolution.

Just saying.

Comment by Anon Downstate Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:45 pm
The cost of corporate welfare:

http://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/prog.php?statesum=IL

The TIF money belongs to the schools.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:25 pm
“IF a TIF is a worthy TIF, the incremental property tax growth funds (incremental assessed evaluation growth- i.e. property tax growth) are, by law and by according to the respective TIF Plan, are to be utilized for projects which increase the property values of the defined TIF area.”

Not for nothing, but the property values are really high in my area in large part because of the highly rated school district.

Comment by benniefly2 Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 8:24 am
TIFS do nothing but rob schools and the rest of a cities infrastructure. The word “BLIGHT” has so many definitions it’s a sham.

I mean really a TIF dist on Michigan Ave…

Comment by TIFS a JOKE Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 8:58 am