DALEY'S TIF TRAINWRECK

Progress Illinois has two great posts about Mayor Daley's TIF scheme and Chicago's estimated $520 million budget hole for next year. Check 'em out.

A Few Questions for Gene Saffold:

Since rolling out the bad-news budget for next year, there have been a lot of questions pointed at Chicago Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold. These include whether he's exaggerated the size of the hole in the budget (pegged at $520 million) and how money from the leases of several valuable city assets -- including the $1.15 billion parking meter deal, which was supposed to help balance the budget through 2012 -- could have possibly dried up so quickly.
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If other municipalities in Illinois can release surplus TIF funds back to local taxing bodies, why can't Chicago?

Getting Creative with Daley's TIF Network

...The property tax revenue being siphoned away from local taxing bodies through TIF has more than doubled over the past six years — from $216 million in 2002 to $570 million in 2008.

It seems ridiculous to be redirecting so much money away from the general tax base at the same time that revenues are sharply declining. Indeed, with a little creative thinking and flexibility on the part of city officials, there are several adjustments to the TIF system that could provide some relief for cash-starved taxing bodies in Chicago. In this post, we’ll examine three potential modifications: redistributing surplus funds, terminating "elderly" TIF districts, and adjusting the TIF tax base for inflation.

photo via Joe Fournier at Zanimation - check the site out for some Chicago and Mayor Daley themed cartoons