Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=126829
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 8:05:00 PM CST
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Source image courtesy City of Chicago. Photo illustration by Autum Dierking/MEDILL.
The approximately 160 Tax Increment Financing districts can be a source of much confusion for citizens and aldermen alike. The City Council's approval of the Sunshine Ordinance will make TIF information readily available on a new Web site.
Sunshine Ordinance sheds light on city government
by Autum Dierking
April 22, 2009
In an unprecedented move to increase city government transparency, the Chicago City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to make information for every Tax Increment Financing district publically available on a user-friendly Web site.
First Ward Ald. Manuel Flores and 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack created the TIF Sunshine Ordinance to eliminate citizen distrust and confusion that they said surrounds many TIF districts in the city. The ordinance, which advanced from a joint committee Tuesday, is designed to increase accountability and public awareness about government decisions, according to the Waguespack and Flores.
“At a time when people are asking more of their government officials of how it is that they are spending taxpayer dollars,” Flores said. “I think it is critical and crucial that we set a high benchmark in our government to make sure people understand how it is that we are investing their money.”
Waguespack and Flores created the ordinance when they discovered a lack of information available to them regarding the unexpected closure of Republic Windows and Doors in December. The aldermen suspected that the company did not fulfill its original promise to use $10 million in TIF dollars to help create jobs. As the TIF expired in 2006, the city could not recover the money.
Currently, citizens and even aldermen have to dig through mountains of city documents or send in Freedom of Information Act requests to get information on TIFs, which use future taxpayer dollars to fund current development projects in a particular area.
Rachel Weber, an associate professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago and a local TIF expert, said the easily accessible information will make TIF’s clearer at first, but could raise more questions as information is uncovered.
“I think there will be more scrutiny of the city’s decisions,” she said. “The city up until now made these allocation decisions behind closed doors. I think that the expectation that this info will be readily available to the public may spur officials to make more justifications.”
The Web site, which could be completed by the end of the year, will create a “comprehensive and universally accepted, searchable, standardized format” for accessing TIF records, according to a Flores press release.
Thirty Fifth Ward Ald. Rey Colón said he is confident this ordinance will help to clear up the TIF miscommunication in his ward.
“I think the Sunshine Ordinance will add some light to the murky questions people have and the distrust people have because they just don’t have the information,” he said.
