The TIF Illumination Project (www.tifreports.com) made its 48th TIF Illumination for the Hermosa Neighborhood Association at Kelvyn Park on May 6, 2017. The presenter was Tom Tresser with research assistance from Eric Unger. info@civiclab.us

1. May 6, 2017
Tom Tresser
with research from Eric Unger

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The TIF Illumination Project
started in 2013.

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Key Policy Questions
1. Under what circumstances do we give public $ to private
business?
2. Who plans what for whom? AKA, What defines
“community development”?
3. Is Chicago broke?
4. Who’s watching our back? Need for new leaders.

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What are TIFs?

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What are TIFs?
• Created by municipality (state law)
• Designed to subsidize some business project
in “blighted” or under-served area
• “But for” test – only for projects market CAN
NOT support
• Captures “incremental” property taxes ABOVE
base when district was created
• Only for hard costs
• Lasts 23 years
• Supposed to be spent where collected

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What are TIFs?
The Midwest TIF – 24th Ward
(created in 2000)
Say there
are 1,000
properties
in the
TIF…

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How Do TIFs Work?
When the TIF is created,
the city tallies up all the
property taxes
generated by district in
that year (called the
"base" amount). After
that, all property tax
increases above the
base (the "increment")
are channeled to the TIF
district.
The property taxes
collected from
properties inside the
district BEFORE the
district was created
that go to units of
government stays
FLAT for the life of the
TIF (23 years).

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Money From TIFs Taken From?

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What are TIFs?
Under state law, areas proposed for TIF designation
must possess numerous blighting factors to be
eligible:
• Age
• Obsolescence
• Code violations
• Excessive vacancies
• Overcrowding of facilities

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TIFs Usedto support commercial projects in these“Blighted”
Areas
40 S. Halsted
Apple Store

13. 13Better Government Association

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Where are TIFs?
2015
Chicago = 146
Suburbs = 293
Cook County = 439

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Mr. TIF

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23. To sum up:
 TIFs = property taxes
 Increment $ collected by TIF
 Run by city (mayor)
 Lasts 23 years
 Blight & “But for” conditions
 Hard costs
 Supposed to be spent where
collected

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TIFs of the Hermosa Neighborhood

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Name of TIF TIF # Created Expires % in Community
In Community
Armitage/Pulaski 151 2007 2031 100%
Pulaski Industrial 069 1999 2023 50%
NW Industrial 064 1998 2022 25%
Adjacent
Belmont/Cicero 082 2000 2024
Galewood/Armitage 071 1999 2023
Belmont/Central 081 2000 2024
Portage Park 058 1998 2021
Near
Avondale 167 2009 2033
Fullerton/Milwaukee 087 2000 2024
Kennedy/Kimball 160 2008 2032
North/Cicero 035 1997 2020
TIFs of the Hermosa Neighborhood

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Armitage/Pulaski
Fullerton/Milwaukee
Fullerton/Milwaukee
Belmont/Cicero
Pulaski Industrial
Avondale
Portage Park
Fullerton/Milwaukee
Northwest Industrial
Belmont/Central
Galewood/Armitage
Kennedy/KImball
North/Cicero

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Hermosa Area TIF Totals for 2015
Est. property tax extraction from 3 TIFs in community =
$2,472,050
Est. property taxes left in accounts end 2015 from these
in community TIFs =
$10,189,973
Est. lifetime extraction for TIFs 100% and partially in ward =
$38,670,305

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Hermosa Area TIF Totals for 2015
Property tax extraction from TIFs IN and NEAR community =
$25,125,835
Property taxes left in accounts end 2015 from these TIFs =
$103,033,995
Total expenses from these TIFs =
$18,693,179

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Hermosa Area Major TIF Funded Projects
$6,532,793 = public projects (8.6%)
$13,606,185 = nonprofit projects (17.9%)
$55,815,178 = private projects (73.5%)
[Largest = Brickyard Mall - $26,500,000]
[Monclare Senior Residence - $12,050,700]
[Florsheim retail & condos - $8,500,000]
[Hairpin lofts & retail - $7,151,770]
2 Home Depots - $5,775,915]

33. TIF $ in Chicago’s Loop
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34. 123 S. Dearborn Street –
Dearborn Center
32 W. Randolph Street –
Oriental Theater
1 N. Dearborn Street - Sears
TIF $ in the Loop

35. 188 W. Randolph Street –
Randolph Tower
Apartments
230 N. Michigan Avenue –
Hard Rock Hotel
555 W. Monroe Street –
PepsiCo
TIF $ in the Loop, Near West Side

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TIFs hoard taxes
in prosperous
communities –
starve poor
communities.
1. They further inequality in
chicago.

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Authors plead "Our
message is simple:
'Please, please, if you're
going to offer incentives,
don't give them to every
firm that asks -- Don't!
Ninety percent of the
time they don't work, and
handing them out after a
company has already
located in an area
without them makes no
sense at all."

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www.tifreports.com
www.wearenotbroke.org
tom@civiclab.us
312-804-3230