June 18, 2014Tom Tresser

The TIFs of the48th Ward

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In the evening – open enrollment workshops on all things civic...

“TIF 101”

“Vegan Cooking”

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“TIF 101” – The Video

Watch the 2 ½ minute promo @  http://tinyurl.com/TIF-101-promo-YT 

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What are TIFs?

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What are TIFs?• Created by municipality (state

statute)

• Boundaries cross political and community boundaries

• Designed to subsidize some business project in “blighted” or under-served area

• Captures “incremental” property taxes ABOVE base when district was created

• Lasts 23 years

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What are TIFs?

Under state law, areas proposed for TIF designation must possess numerous blighting factors to be eligible:

• Age• Obsolescence• Code violations• Excessive vacancies• Overcrowding of facilities

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How Do TIFs Work?When the TIF is created, the city tallies up all the

property taxes generated by district in that year

(called the "base" amount). After that, all property tax increases above the base (the

"increment") are channeled to the TIF

district.

The property taxes collected from

properties inside the district BEFORE the district was created that go to units of government stays

FLAT for the life of the TIF (23 years).

10Better Government Association

?

?

?

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Where are TIFs?

• All over Chicago and Cook County = 435 TIFs in 2012

• 154 in city of Chicago

• Additional 281 in suburban Cook County

{Was 163 - 9 terminated in 2012}

TIF 101 13

Where are TIFs?

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Where are TIFs?

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How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?

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How Much Revenue Have TIFs Collected?

Ouch!

Source: Cook County Clerk

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2012 TOTAL TIF REVENUE FOR COOK COUNTY

City of Chicago

TIFs diverted $457 MILLION

Suburban Cook County where

83 municipalities have TIFs

TIFs diverted $266 MILLION

TOTAL FOR 2012 = $723 MILLION

How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?

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How Much Revenue Have TIFs Collected Since TIFs Introduced Here?

CHICAGO = $5.5 BILLION SUBURBS = $4.2 BILLION

TOTAL COOK COUNTY =$9.7 BILLION!

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How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?2012 Actual

TIFs extracted $457million in 2012.That # is 51% of the TOTAL amount of property taxes that went to the city for its operations! TIF = “Off the books”

“On the books”

• We are told that TIFs have NO impact on our property taxes. • This bill is from a property inside the Englewood TIF.• It shows “0.00” impact on this person’s bill. Nothing.

What is the actual percentage of this property tax bill taken by the Englewood TIF in 2012?(a) 13%, (b) 24%, (c) 53%, or (d) 64% ?

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The civics books say our property taxes are distributed like this…

But in 2011 our property taxes in Chicago were REALLY distributed like this…

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How much money is…?

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Click here to open the 154

2012 PDF Annual Reports. One by one.

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THE CITY HAD $1.7 BILLION IN

UNSPENT TIF FUNDS

AT THE END OF 2012!

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What are TIFs?

The Local Picture

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You can get this full presentation online at the TIF Data Store at http://tinyurl.com/TIF-Data-Store. The full presentation contains this data:

- how many TIFs in the ward- estimation of TIF property tax extraction from TIFs in the ward for latest year- if a TIF is 100% or close to 100% in ward, lifetime property tax extraction- how much money left in those TIF accounts FROM the ward- what projects funded by TIFs in the ward- examples from the TIF Hall of Shame

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