Commissioner Quigley at April meeting of Edgewater-Rogers Park DFA

Written by: Melissa Lindberg on Apr 29, 2007 9:56 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Northside DFA

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley spoke at the Edgewater-Rogers Park DFA on Thursday, April 5th, at our regular monthly meeting.  Though Quigley’s main topic was TIFs – Tax Incremental Financing, he also spoke about his experiences as a reform legislator on the Cook County Board, and pushing County government to become more green – the newest county building has been built using green technology.

Quigley pointed out that at one time, our local taxes went to paying for services – like schools, hospitals, street repairs, garbage pickup.  Now, our taxes primarily go to fund the debt and pensions.  TIFs have become a way for local governments to increase revenues without increasing taxes visibly.  However, Quigley feels its really a back-door tax hike; he estimates that our taxes in Cook County are 10% higher because the taxes from TIFs go to the TIF districts, and not into the local budgets.  TIFs are supposed to be used to aid blighted areas, but they have been increasingly misused as local governments look for ways get around tax restrictions.  Tax revenues from TIFs are supposed to go back into the TIF District, but any difference between the estimated value of the TIF and actual revenues are often diverted into other projects after the fact.  However, when the tax revenues go to the TIF district, they are not going directly into other local governmental bodies: the City, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, the Forest District, the school districts, and the county government.  There has been a lack of accountability and transparency in the way TIF revenues have been spent.  The public rarely has input into how TIF revenues are spent; the TIF districts are in force for a 23-year lifetime, which depletes the revenues of taxing authorities other than municipalities over a long period of times.  The increased use of TIFs has led to some odd areas being designated “blighted.”  For instance, LaSalle Street was recently granted a TIF – and LaSalle Street is hardly blighted.  While TIFs can provide a handy slush fund for municipal governments, the overall effect is that taxes get raised in order to cover the loss of the revenues for other governmental bodies. 

Quigley stressed the need for more transparency in the use of TIF revenues, and in the way TIFs are approved.  Its important that taxing authorities that will be affected by the TIF be involved in the process, and also taxpayers in the area affected.  Implicit in this discussion of TIFs is the need to change the way we talk about taxes:  if municipalities cannot raise taxes to provide city services, they resort to back-door taxes in the form of TIFs.  In the end, taxpayers end up paying more.  If we want services, we need to figure out how to pay for them – and we need to make the whole process a lot more transparent.  Not that there would be ever any improper shenanigans in the way TIFs are approved and run, right?

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Location: Chicago, IL 60640