The short link for this page = http://tinyurl.com/27thWardForumPresentation. Tom Tresser presented the research from the TIF Illumination Project's investigation of the 12 TIFs in the 27th Ward. This presentation was made at the February 12, 2013 TIF Town Meeting organized by the Tax Integrity and Fairness Alliance at the Chopin Theatre. http://tifalliance.weebly.com. We upload all the TIF presentations to http://www.slideshare.net/tomtee. These presentations have been viewed over 44,000 times! The champ is the presentation on the 27th ward which has been viewed 4,292 times. So - if you are one of the people whose viewed these presentations and found them valuable - PLEASE support our work by (1) signing our email list at http://tinyurl.com/SignUp-CivicLab, (2) consider renting a desk with us (we're in Chicago's West Loop), and (3) making a deducible contribution via our fiscal agent, the Investigative News Network - http://tinyurl.com/SupportTheLab-INN. We are online at http://www.tifreports.com. Contact me - tom@civiclab.us.

1. February 12, 2013
Tom Tresser

2. What are TIFs?
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3. What are TIFs?
• Created by municipality (state
statute)
• Boundaries cross political and
community boundaries
• Designed to subsidize some
business project in “blighted” or
under-served area
• Captures “incremental” property
taxes ABOVE base when district
was created
• Lasts 23 years
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4. 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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5. Where are TIFs?
• All over Chicago and Cook
County = 443 TIFs in 2011
• 163 in city of Chicago
• Additional 280 in suburban
Cook County
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6. Where are TIFs?
TIF 101 6

7. Where are TIFs?
Source: Cook County Clerk TIF 101 7

8. How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?
Source: Cook County Clerk TIF 101 8

9. How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?
2011 TOTAL TIF REVENUE FOR COOK COUNTY
City of Chicago
TIFs diverted $454 MILLION
Suburban Cook County
TIFs diverted $275 MILLION
TOTAL FOR 2011 = $729 MILLION
TIF 101 9

10. How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?
TIFs extracted $454 million in 2011.
That # is 53% of the TOTAL amount
of property taxes that went to the city
for its operations!
TIF 101 10

11. How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect?
Ouch!
$4.5 BILLION
DIVERTED
SINCE 1986!
TIF 101 11

12. What are TIFs?
12

13. 13

14. This spreadsheet has 4,588 rows!
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15. 15

16. TIF 101 16

17. Click here to open
the 163 PDF
annual reports.
One by one.
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18. 18

19. 19

20. THE CITY HAD
$1.3 BILLION IN
UNSPENT TIF
FUNDS AT THE END
OF 2011!
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21. Is YOUR
ward a TIF
winner or
loser?
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22. LET’S LOOK AT HOW TIFs WORK ON A
WARD-BY-WARD BASIS.
CODERS, RESEARCHERS, DESIGNERS,
INVESTIGATORS, ORGANIZERS.
ALL VOLUNTEERS RIGHT NOW.
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23. First ward selected for investigation = 27th Ward, Near North Side – 12 TIFs
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24. Need to know:
- Names of TIFs, annual report of revenue
- Property Index Number (PIN) data for the ward and for the 12 TIFs
- How much property taxes collected by each TIF
- Distribution formula for all PINs – where to send the property taxes
collected?
- Shape files for the ward
- Shape files for the 12 TIFs
- Projects funded by TIFs, regardless of the sponsoring agency
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25. 25

26. Not this
This
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27. 27

28. TIF 101 28

29. TIF 101 29

30. 30

31. The way it’s supposed to work
31

32. TIF 101 32

33. The way it really works in the
27th Ward
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34. 34

35. 35

36. 36

37. TIF 101 37

38. TIF 101 38

39. 39

40. 40

41. TO SUM UP:
• Impossible to find out how TIFs impact your ward
– have to work REALLY hard to get the complete
picture
• 12 TIFs in the 27th ward = 77% of the ward’s
land mass
• They extracted $36.8 million in property taxes
in 2011
• That was 33% of ALL property taxes collected
inside the ward
• 12 TIFs extracted $255.2 million over past 9
years (thru 2011) 41

42. TO SUM UP:
• $62 million from 27th ward was sitting in TIF
accounts on 1/1/12
• Of TIF $ coming back INTO ward same 9
years, only 42% went to public projects
• 58% went to private commercial and
nonprofit projects
• We lack details on most of the TIF funded
projects
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43. The Problem Is State-Wide
In Illinois, 455 municipalities have
1,220 TIF Districts.
? In 2010 TIFs extracted $1.15
BILLION in property taxes!
In 2010, across the state, 414 TIF
districts were in “non-compliance” for
not filing any or proper financial
statements, according to The Office
of the State Comptroller. That’s 44%
of all Illinois TIFs!
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44. Calling All TIF Illuminators!
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45. The TIF Report Team
Stories on this project:
• Chicago Reader – 12/13/12
• Sunlight Foundation - 1/4/13
• Gaper’s Block – 1/10/13
• Outside The Loop Radio – 1/31/13
• Dick Kay’s Radio Show – 2/9/13
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46. Tom Tresser – 312-804-3230
tom@civiclab.us
• TIF Project HQ = http://tifreports.com
• Get TIF news via Twitter @TIFreport
• Follow CivicLab @civiclabchicago
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