By Meredith Wilson<\/p>\n
Thanks to this year’s elections, Chicagoans looking for an explanation for the city\u2019s financial woes are turning an eye towards an opaque form of municipal funding.<\/p>\n
TIF, or tax increment financing, has been vaulted into public consciousness as the city struggles to elect a mayor and find a solution to Chicago\u2019s rising debt and underfunded pensions, which threaten to sink the city financially.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were some high-profile incidents of disinvestment, and TIF became a political football. People want a silver bullet, or a smoking gun, as to why things are bad. TIF kind of gave them a focus for that anger,\u201d said Rachel Weber, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.<\/p>\n
During the elections, many aldermanic candidates ran on TIF reform. The issue came up in the first runoff debate between Jesus \u201cChuy\u201d Garcia and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, when Garcia used TIF distribution to accuse Emanuel of cronyism.<\/p>\n
\u201cChicagoans need to know that this mayor has given corporate welfare to his cronies, millionaires and billionaires in Illinois in terms of tax increment financing,\u201d Garcia argued, without presenting specifics.<\/p>\n
Greg Hinz, political columnist at Crain\u2019s Chicago Business, believes that people started caring about TIF because of the political rhetoric, not because of facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere clearly have been abuses in the past,\u201d Hinz said during a phone interview. \u201cThis urban myth has developed that says grants are going to rich corporations, and that narrative plays really nicely into this 1 percent 99 percent that\u2019s part of this mayoral race, and the facts get lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinz\u2019s wrote<\/a> on March 16 that of the $1.3 billion in TIF funding Emanuel has approved, it was split almost evenly between public and private developers, and that of the private developments that received TIF funding, 20 percent were neighborhood improvement projects.<\/p>\n Residents in awe<\/b><\/p>\n Asiaha Butler, president of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood<\/a>, and her team pushed for a ballot initiative<\/a> during the February elections asking whether residents of the 30th<\/sup> precinct in the 16th<\/sup> ward wanted to form a TIF advisory council.<\/p>\n The Englewood TIF district generated over $5 million in 2013 and had over $20 million in the coffers at the end of 2009, according to reports by the Cook County Clerk\u2019s office.<\/p>\n After all the ballots were counted, 86 percent of voters said they wanted more say in how their TIF funding was spent.<\/p>\n Butler said that residents were mostly unaware of TIF funding, but when they found out what was going on, they were shocked.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were like \u2018are you serious? Is this the truth?\u2019 People are just in total awe. There\u2019s this tool that can help with the community that isn\u2019t being managed properly.\u2019\u201d Butler said. \u201c<\/p>\n The city of Chicago\u2019s website<\/a> describes TIF as \u201ca special funding tool used by the City of Chicago to promote public and private investment across the city.\u201d<\/p>\n To qualify for TIF district status, an area must be considered \u201cblighted\u201d by the government. Age, dilapidation, excessive vacancies or a lack of community planning would cause an area to be \u201cblighted.\u201d The area must also meet the \u201cbut for\u201d rule, which says that a district wouldn\u2019t be able to develop \u201cbut for\u201d TIF funding.<\/p>\n A TIF district lasts for at least 23 years. When it is formed, the area is assessed and given a baseline property value. Anything residents pay in property taxes above that value goes into the district\u2019s TIF fund. That money is then used to fund directly or repay loans taken out for building, redevelopment and maintenance projects within the district.<\/p>\n As of 2013, there were 151 TIF districts in Chicago, covering 30 percent of the city. According to a report by the Cook County Clerk\u2019s office<\/a>, $422 million in TIF money was collected in 2013, and $5.9 billion has been collected since 1986.<\/p>\n In a push to educate Chicagoans, the Civic Lab<\/a> began a TIF Illumination Project<\/a> in February, 2013, to \u201cexplain and expose how this program works and who is helped and harmed by it.\u201d The Civic Lab employs researched reports, graphics, video and, most effectively, community organizing in its education push.<\/p>\n According to Civic Lab co-founder Tom Tressor, the organization has presented to over 4,000 people since it launched the project. Over 230 attended the first TIF town hall. To date, town halls have been held in 136 TIF districts. All the meetings were organized by members of the community who wanted to know more about TIF funding.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a backdrop of \u2018we\u2019re broke we\u2019re broke\u2019 but we can still shower projects with tax dollars,\u201d Tressor said. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty raw nerve. And when you explain it that way, people want to know why.\u201d<\/p>\n He called the current economic climate a \u201cperfect storm\u201d of school closures, financial hardship and the rise of the 99 percent movement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s your property dollars, it\u2019s the most basic connection between you and your government,\u201d Tressor said. \u201cIt\u2019s not some strange grants or far-away federal funds. This is the way your city operates.\u201d<\/p>\n Asiaha Butler plans to continue her education campaign in Englewood and push for a TIF advisory council with the next 16th<\/sup> ward alderman.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t really get angry if we don\u2019t know enough. How do we learn more?\u201d Butler said. \u201cResidents weren\u2019t like \u2018Hey! We need to do something about this!\u2019 There\u2019s a lot of interest in discussion, more interest in learning more.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat is a TIF?<\/h1>\n
People want answers<\/h1>\n