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Study: TIFs too tempting for public officials to resistChicago Sun-TimesApril 19, 2007By Abdon M. PallaschThe average Chicago homeowner pays $93 a year in property taxes to subsidize the network of 373 "TIFs" -- special taxing districts around Cook County, according to a study being released today. That's $686 million collected all over Cook County to be spent behind closed doors by elected or appointed officials who generally have little if any public oversight, the study asserted, noting the money is diverted from Chicago and suburban public schools, libraries and parks. Other taxpayers make up for that loss, said the study, conducted by Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley and the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group, working with academics and tax experts. [Webmaster's note: While Commissioner Quigley is grateful to have received valuable assistance from the now-defunct Neighborhood Capital Budget Group and other experts, the study was conducted entirely by Commissioner Quigley and his staff.] Mayor Daley and many suburban mayors say TIFs -- tax increment financing districts -- are the best tool for spurring economic development in "blighted" areas. A TIF works this way: A city declares an area "blighted" and it becomes a TIF district. For the next 23 years, any property taxes collected in that district over and above those collected on the first year go into a special pot of money the city will use to "improve" that district. But the study says the power TIFs give public officials proves too tempting to resist and they use them in non-blighted areas such as downtown Chicago. A quarter of Chicago's acreage has now been mapped into one TIF or another. One in four TIFs "saw no significant public or private investment," the study found. And when property values rise within TIF districts, often it has nothing to do with the TIF designation, according to the study.
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