CHICAGO-Though corruption and Chicago have never been strangers, the tax increment financing system in the city has encouraged both praise for providing development and jobs, and criticism for taking away tax dollars from needy neighborhoods to fund favorite alderman-sponsored projects. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced new oversight to the city’s more than 100 TIF districts Monday, promising tools and supervision of the program.
Emanuel said city staff have been unable to adequately track data regarding the districts, and have therefore had a poor picture of how taxpayer dollars are spent. US Rep. Mike Quigley said in a statement that that it’s important to improve transparency and accountability on the “murky” Chicago TIF system. “I’ve been sounding the alarm on TIF’s for a decade now,” Quigley said. “Chicago taxpayers deserve to get what they pay for.”
The new changes, which started Monday, include the creation a comprehensive online TIF database to track all of the projects in one place. City staff, and the public, will be able to evaluate TIF projects, according to a city statement. With this system, every TIF project will have an assessment report that will be posted online before consideration.
Also, the city’s Department of Revenue will take over monitoring TIF performance. Independent auditors from the department will perform random inspections, and an internal task force will expand to include high-ranking city officials.
A number of projects in the city have only gained traction because of the incentive. Sara Lee is looking to gain a TIF deal to move to a 300,000-square-foot industrial building at 400 S. Jefferson St. The city already approved a $7 million TIF for the $42 million grocery-store strip development in Greektown that will include a Mariano’s Fresh Market.
Emanuel also said Monday that a $4.7 million TIF will help Resurrection University move from Oak Park, IL to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago’s Humboldt Park Commercial TIF district. The university is spending more than $13 million on the creation of Resurrection’s new nursing center at St. Elizabeth’s, which is at 1431 N. Claremont Ave. Resurrection will renovate 38,900 square feet of vacant space on five floors of the 11-story St. Elizabeth’s.
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