TIFs for Virus Help

Activists demand a closer look at TIFs to deal with crisis

By Jim Vail

News-Star

As the City of Chicago tries to deal with one of its worst financial crises ever, some activists are demanding that the mayor take money from the controversial Tax Increment Financing or TIF fund and use it to battle the coronavirus epidemic.

¨We are calling for the complete elimination of TIFs from the Chicago development portfolio and the releasing of the remaining $1.2 billion in property taxes sitting in the TIF funds for emergency COVID services and support immediately,” said Tom Tresser, founder of the CivicLab which has analyzed the TIF program and educated the public in numerous meetings across the city.

Tresser and other critics have described the TIF program as a slush fund for the mayor used to subsidize wealthy developments on the North Side at the expense of impoverished areas on the South Side where the program was supposed to help.

The coronavirus crisis has especially hit the black population in this city hard because many have less access to proper health care, must work during the epidemic which exposes them to the virus and live in crowded living conditions.

¨TIFs have harmed Black communities especially hard over the decades, so it's fitting that they be eliminated (and) the funds remaining in those accounts be used to save lives now,¨ Tresser said in an email.

The CivicLab sent a letter to city officials that calls on all workers to receive guaranteed four week full salary if they are sick with COVID19 or are staying at home to care for sick families; a halt on rent, evictions, mortgages, student loan payments, foreclosures and property taxes until six months after stay at home is lifted (and the state rent control ban be lifted as emergency order by the governor); no shut off or late fees of utilities until stay at home order is ended; free public transit; free COVID19 testing and treatment; hire 1,000 public health workers; reopen mental health clinics that Mayor Emanuel closed; provide protective gear to all workers dealing with COVID19 cases and begin door to door screening and testing where needed. (http://www.civiclab.us/end-tifs-action-center)

The People´s COVID19 Response states that these demands can be paid for if the mayor reinstates the head tax on all businesses with more than 50 employees, and uses the $1.2 billion public dollars remaining in TIF accounts.

While Mayor Lori Lightfoot campaigned against two controversial TIF programs - the Lincoln Yards in Lincoln Park and Project 78 in the South Loop, she reversed course and backed subsidizing these two mega developments to the tune of $2.4 billion in taxpayer money.

Her administration´s vow to reform the TIF program, however, has earned the wrath of experts and TIF reform activists. The Grassroots Collaborative, a coalition of 11 community groups and labor unions opposed to using TIF dollars to help fund private development, said they had ¨high expectations¨ but now see Mayor Lightfoot following in the footsteps of Mayor Emanuel. They sued the city stating the program was racist.

The TIFs have showered millions of taxpayer dollars on special private projects, while the city and school finances continue to struggle. And with the current health crisis, things are only getting worse. Chicago has 163 TIF districts, which collected $841 million in 2018. 

The mayor is basically repeating Emanuel´s promises to increase transparency and oversight of the city´s TIF dollars, but the TIFs are by nature inequitable because they can best generate revenue when situated near wealthy areas of the city, Rachel Weber, a professor at UIC, told the Better Government Association. In fact, critics say the mayor´s promises appear set up to further more projects like Lincoln Yards. For one, she has set up a committee to reform TIFs, but no critics were invited. Still, the city says there will be a robust community process. 

A similar situation can be found in Lincoln Square today, where Alderman Matt Martin is claiming there will be community input into a proposed affordable housing project at Leland and Lincoln Avenues. The proposal has several area businesses up in arms that they will lose valuable parking, and they claim they have not been informed. The project has been mostly discussed behind closed doors, while community output will be reserved at the end, giving the idea it is a done deal to those who feel they had no input from the start.

According to Tresser, TIFs are racist and structurally unfair and cannot be reformed. In October, 2019 the CivicLab issued a detailed argument for the abolition of TIFs online at Endtifsnow.org. To date 389 people have signed. In addition, two community organizations have called for TIF abolition, the 33rd Ward Working Families and Mi Villita.