subscribe: Posts | Comments

You are currently viewing: Understanding TIF

Understanding TIF

What is a TIF?

“TIF” stands for “Tax Increment Financing,” a special tool that the City of Chicago can use to generate money for economic development in a specific geographic area. TIF allows the City to re-invest all new property tax dollars in the neighborhood from which they came for a 23-year period. These “new” revenues – also called “increments” – arise if new development takes place in the TIF district, or if the value of existing properties rises, resulting in higher tax bills. These funds can be spent on public works projects or given as subsidies to encourage private development. But TIF also makes it much easier for the City to acquire private property and demolish buildings to make way for new construction.

With consistent community participation, TIF can be a tool for implementing a community-based revitalization plan through encouraging affordable housing development, improving parks and schools, fixing basic infrastructure, putting vacant land to productive use, creating good-paying jobs, and meeting other local needs.

Without strong and sustained public participation, however, TIFs can give the City power to change the basic character of a neighborhood against the wishes of those who live and work there, accelerate the pace of gentrification, and drive up property values to the point that existing residents and businesses can’t afford to stay in the community. In short, TIF is a mixed bag, and its success or failure depends on how active the community is in their planning and implementation.

Who has the Power in TIFs

Formal Informal
State Passes the laws that give local governments the authority to create TIFs.

Strengths: All cities and towns must comply with changes to the State law.

Weaknesses: Winning changes to the State law can be slow and time-consuming.

 Collects information on every TIF in the State.

In general, the State’s power over individual TIFs is limited to passing legislation that affects all districts. However, the recent TIF reform law requires municipalities to submit data on their TIFs to the Comptroller’s office. This could allow the State to become a “whistleblower” on TIF abuses.
County Assesses property value, collects taxes, and administers property tax relief programs.

County government has virtually no say over whether TIFs are created or how the money is spent. Because the County is in charge of the property tax system, however, it does have some authority over who gets tax relief in a TIF.

Case-By-Case: Taxpayers can appeal their property tax bills to the Assessor

Policy Reform: The Assessor can develop systematic tax relief proposals that must be reviewed and approved by the County Board.

 Collects detailed information on property taxes and TIF performance.

Like the State, the County is a gold mine of information about how well TIFs are working and what is happening to property values within each TIF.
Local Department of Planning & Development Staff/City Consultants:

Drafts the eligibility study and redevelopment plan, performs the housing impact study, negotiates subsidies with private developers, manages project budget.

Community Development Commission/Chicago Plan Commission:

Must review TIF proposals and submit them to the City Council with a positive or negative recommendation.

Individual Aldermen:

Except for their role as a voting member of the City Council, the individual Alderman has no formal powers under the TIF law.

City Council:

Each TIF plan, redevelopment agreement, or amendment must pass through the City Council Finance Committee and the full Council. On a broader level, the City Council can pass into law TIF policies and procedures that go beyond the requirements of the State law, as long as they don’t contradict it.

Mayor:

The Mayor can sign or veto TIF proposals that pass through the City Council, and can issue “executive orders” that guide DPD in implementing the TIF program. These executive orders are not as strong as legislation that passes the City Council, and do not outlast the tenure of the Mayor who issued them.

 Department of Planning & Development Staff/City Consultants:

Because DPD manages additional public hearings, it often controls who knows about the formation of the TIF or which TIF-funded deals may be in the pipeline, and controls access to the planning and budgeting process.

Community Development Commission/Chicago Plan Commission:

While these bodies rarely say no to a proposal, they do preside over the formal public hearings on TIF redevelopment plans, subsidies, property acquisition, and land use. They can shape a proposal by asking DPD and developers tough questions based on their own concerns or public testimony.

Individual Aldermen:

It is well-known that City Hall and the City Council is unlikely to establish a TIF or approve a TIF subsidy unless the Alderman supports the project. This gives the individual Alderman a significant role in both the creation and implementation processes.

City Council:

The City Council as a whole has not developed significant informal powers on the TIF issue.

Mayor:

In Chicago’s current political climate, the Mayor’s preference and priorities have a strong influence over the actions of City Council Members, appointed bodies like the CDC, private developers, and other governmental bodies. The Planning Commissioner (Alicia Mazur Berg) is the Mayor’s eyes and ears on TIF issues.
Other Courts:

Occasionally, courts will get involved when there is a public challenge to the municipality’s adherence to the State law.

Other Taxing Bodies (Schools, Parks, etc.):

All affected taxing bodies in a TIF sit on a Joint Review Board which reviews each proposed TIF, though the JRB rarely acts to try to block a TIF. If the JRB recommends rejecting a TIF, the municipality has 30 days to work out its differences with the JRB and resubmit an amended plan. If the JRB still disapproves of the TIF, the municipality may still proceed, but it needs a 60 percent vote of the City Council in order to approve the TIF. The JRB does not have significant policy-making authority.

Other taxing bodies can also lobby the municipality for access to TIF dollars in the form of capital improvements, much like a private developer.

Developers/Businesses:

Developers have no formal power under the TIF law.

 Courts:

The threat of a high-profile lawsuit may help keep municipalities in compliance with the TIF laws.

Other Taxing Bodies:

Some public officials may have an “inside track” in winning TIF-funded improvements (such as school repairs or park improvements), though that has not occurred much yet in Chicago.

Developers/Businesses:

Developers and businesses often can make powerful promises (jobs, economic development, etc.) to help gain support for TIF subsidies, as well as the ever-present promise of campaign contributions and other political support.
TIF Dollars Can Be Used For:
• Infrastructure (streets, bridges, viaducts)
• Other public improvements (including improvements to schools, parks, and other public buildings)
• Direct subsidies of private residential, commercial, or industrial development.
• Redevelopment and renovation projects
• Job Training
• Day Care
• TIF cannot be used for the “bricks and mortar” costs of construction (except for affordable housing), or for privately owned equipment.