Archive for the ‘ TIF ’ Category

New Council Gets a Good Start

Author: yinn

May 14

City of DeKalb employees and the group Ellwood Historic Neighborhood have hatched a new plan just in time to take up a line item in the FY2014 budget: Buy up multi-family homes in the north 5th Ward, convert them to single-family and resell each property at a loss. In fact:

“We have worked with a local realtor and contractor to identify a willing seller of a multiunit house in the neighborhood,” said David Castro, a member of the Ellwood House Neighborhood Group, a group of residents who have worked with the city in the past to restore the area.

Council has put this plan on hold. Good for you, council members! Personally, I would, too. I agree with Ald. Jacobson that DeKalb should not get into the business of property speculation. First and foremost because it is so, so bad at it (see: empty lots downtown). Read the rest of this entry

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DeKalb’s Hiring Spree

Author: yinn

May 13

The City of DeKalb got rid of 30+ employees at the beginning of FY2011 in order to balance its budget. There followed a year of quiet, but now we’re in the midst of a hiring spree.

YoY Comparison of
Full time Equivalent
Employees (FTEs)		FY2012FY2013FY2014+/- Over
FY2012
Administration17.52022.25*+4.75*
Police
80.0786.0787.57+7.5
Fire
545358+4
Public Works434444+1

Here is what it has done to personnel expenses.

Selected
Personnel
Expenditures		FY2012FY2013FY2014+/- Over
FY2012
Salaries12,614,05413,301,20714,163,263+1,549,209
Health Ins3,320,7253,746,7403,810,939+490,214
Pensions/FICA4,466,7794,199,3244,870,100+403,317

And here’s what the FY2014 budget narrative (PDF p. 29) says about the increases:

Total Personnel Services reflect an increase of 4.5% percent over FY2013. Most of this increase is attributable to a 15% percent increase in pension costs. Wages reflect increases based on collective bargaining agreements. Our insurance consultant informed us in March that the City’s health insurance premium will increase by 4.5% percent[.]

The latest pension cost increase is distressing, but in terms of dollars it is neither the only source nor the primary source of rising personnel costs, which make up some 83% of the General Fund budget.

So we’re looking at these expenditures going up $2.4 million over a two-year period. However, personnel expenses as a whole are expected to rise only about $1 million. In my opinion, this has given council and others a false sense of security that our revenues are naturally growing to cover the ongoing, rising expenses — so let’s try to tug the curtain away. Read the rest of this entry

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Let’s Do the Math (Again) with the Economic Development Fund

Author: yinn

Apr 24

The DeKalb Chamber of Commerce wants a new annual allocation from the city.

The DeKalb Chamber of Commerce is requesting $45,000 from the city to create an event coordinator position to take over the events that Re:New DeKalb has run for years…Re:New DeKalb will undergo a fundamental shift later this year, said Frank Roberts, the president of the organization’s executive board. He said the organization will broaden its focus to include economic development in the entire city, public safety, and creating a marketing brand for DeKalb.

First of all, that’s some serious mission creep they’ve got there. Secondly, the Chamber already gets $50,0000 per year from DeKalb’s Economic Development Fund for marketing and tourism.

Speaking of the Econ Fund:

The money would come from the city’s economic development fund, which is funded by the city’s hotel/motel tax. Biernacki said the city expects to see a boost in this fund with the new Hampton Inn and Suites being built at the corner of South Annie Glidden Road and Taylor Street.

No, I’m thinking the money probably wouldn’t come from that fund. Reason(s): the Econ Fund always a) gets a transfusion from the General Fund, and/or b) runs in the red. Read the rest of this entry

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Library to Borrow $6 Million as Part of “Fundraising Strategy”

Author: yinn

Feb 22

Library ShelvesOnce again let me express deep, deep skepticism that DeKalb Public Library will actually raise the stated goal of $6 million in private donations to contribute to its expansion costs.

Witness the latest step toward putting it on the taxpayers.

In order to meet a looming June 30 deadline, the DeKalb Public Library will borrow $6 million from a private bank as a part of its fundraising strategy for its planned expansion.

How does that even work? If DKPL can just walk into a bank and get a loan of millions, why is it asking the City of DeKalb for help?

Just as importantly, is there anyone who believes DKPL will honestly commit to fundraising once a bank loan is in hand?

If the library board were serious about raising funds from anybody besides Mr. & Ms. Taxpayer, it would have launched a capital campaign well before last month and passed the hat ’round its own table. As of December it hadn’t identified even one major donor and that’s got to be the case today, else they wouldn’t still be looking at borrowing the entire $6 mil.

I truly believe DKPL’s “fundraising strategy” is to use public money, period. Only the city council can change that course and it can start by applying the brakes Monday.

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The Real Reason There’s a “Skating Rink Lady” in This Municipal Election

Author: yinn

Jan 31

Last night I was lucky to attend the candidates’ night hosted by the DeKalb Area Rental Association. Candidates running for DeKalb mayor and aldermen participated.

Some performances I liked real well, others I didn’t. Later, I realized the people who impressed me the least were the ones promising regular town hall meetings, ward coffee sessions, open-door policies, transparency!™ and citizen input up the wazoo. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Council/City Watch, Local Campaigns, Political Campaigns, TIF | Tagged as: , ,

DeKalb TIF Absurdity

Author: yinn

Jan 17

Wow, today’s Chronicle article about TIF seems very one-sided and in need of additional viewpoints.

That’s what blogs are for!

Let’s start with the statement about Sycamore Road.

DeKalb’s districts helped revitalize Sycamore Road with the additions of Target, Walmart and major shopping corridors.

Revitalize? Do they think Sycamore Road was full of slums? It was mostly farmland. Last I checked, farmland was an asset in DeKalb County. But, to start a TIF district you need to declare the area you want to develop as a sort of disaster area known as “blight.” In Illinois TIF parlance, “blight” is anything a municipality needs it to be, as long as it can persuade the General Assembly and governor to buy in. So…corn fields equal blight in DeKalb.

Yes, it’s a corruption of TIF; and the most amazing part, to me, is how a publication can write about Illinois corruption on a regular basis and yet not recognize local examples of it.

Back to the article. How about this:

“We’re blessed to have the working relationship we do with the taxing districts,” [DeKalb city manager Mark] Biernacki said. “We work to make that longer term more short-term by ending TIF districts in less than 23 years.”

DeKalb’s largest TIF district was amended, expanded and renewed for an additional 11 years in 2008. This assertion of Biernacki’s that DeKalb closes TIFs early should not have gone unchallenged, yet it totally did.

Also going unchallenged is the notion of opening new TIFs in town AT THIS TIME. I can’t believe we are going there and will spend the rest of the post explaining why it we shouldn’t. Read the rest of this entry

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Pensions & TIF in DeKalb

Author: yinn

Nov 30

Except in the case of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, DeKalb’s property taxes go toward pensions and FICA almost exclusively, and its share of your annual property tax bill is about 7%. Using these facts along with TIF revenue data, I set out to estimate how much city property tax flows into TIF funds that might otherwise have gone to city pensions.

Tax
Year		Property taxes
collected for
the TIF funds		DeKalb's share
of the TIF take
(7%)
20118,534,686597,428
20108,623,696603,658
20099,009,434630,660
20088,975,821628,307
20078,020,188561,413
20066,613,284462,930
20055,626,939393,885
20044,614,715323,030
20034,254,124297,788
20023,931,059275,174
20013,549,132248,439
20003,460,446242,231
Total$75,213,524$5,264,943

Read the rest of this entry

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First Reading of Housing Ordinance Changes Comes Tomorrow

Author: yinn

Nov 12

The agenda for tomorrow’s city council meetings is here. Now, it finally becomes apparent* that the $6 million they’ve got stockpiled in the TIF 2 fund is mostly going to go into the Municipal Building. Of course, the use of TIF money for this purpose will bring in all kinds of new private development and tax revenues…somehow…right?

Also up for consideration at first reading are changes to the housing ordinances (see PDF pp. 39-40. As previously discussed, the main problem with the proposals (besides the costs) is the blurring of police functions with code enforcement functions. Such disregard for roles and boundaries will come to no good and I’m quite surprised the police department seems willing to risk its reputation with a mess like this.

At any rate, the DeKalb Area Rental Association (DARA) has sent another letter to the administration about these ordinances. I’ll place it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry

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Olive Garden Will Automatically Cost My Family $68.34 If It Opens in DeKalb

Author: yinn

Oct 23

Between the TIF corporate welfare and a new parking lot for NIU, the City of DeKalb will be paying out somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million to put Olive Garden on oh-so-blighted Sycamore Road if the deal the city council voted for last night is finalized to the satisfaction of all parties.

Assuming the population of DeKalb is still 43,900 (I have my doubts) and using the $1 mil figure, it comes to $22.78 that must be paid by each resident and does not include bread sticks; this is what we must pay merely to get local access to bread sticks.

I don’t know about you, but I’d have a hard time spending money in a joint that I felt already owed me a meal. Read the rest of this entry

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Arguments Against New TIF Districts in DeKalb

Author: yinn

Oct 19

Because somebody’s got to do it.

Here are the general reasons DeKalb should not open up any new Tax Increment Financing Districts at this time.

Pensions. DeKalb’s property tax levy is applied only toward pension costs, and pension costs have been accelerating. Every penny that gets swallowed by the increment has to be made up somehow. As it is, DeKalb’s been losing ground on pension funding progress despite raising its tax rate more than 20% since 2009. Another TIF is something we can ill afford from the standpoint of the city property tax.

Waste. The city is prone to adding “shopping therapy” kitsch to the downtown, and to granting corporate welfare as is being contemplated again now.

Misuse. Dekalb’s been cursed by TIF abuse from about Day One. TIF is supposed to fight blight. Sycamore Road retailers were among the first TIF recipients, but Sycamore Road has never been blighted; first it was corn fields and now it’s a thriving commercial district. Moreover, TIF is generally not intended for public buildings, but Barb City Manor, the Municipal Building et al are perennial dependents of TIF.

Zero Accountability. City manager Mark Biernacki approved almost $53,000 in TIF money to be paid to a DeKalb alderman without council permission. Then, he couldn’t seem to understand why the public had a problem with his actions. And at this moment, staff are building a $6 million reserve in TIF 2 for who-knows-what. Have you ever seen a newspaper article about a TIF Joint Review Board meeting? Me neither. I have seen some of its meeting minutes, though, and the conclusion I drew from them was that the board met once a year for maybe about two minutes.

Does this mean I’m against TIF in all circumstances? Of course not. But DeKalb has a long way to go before I could support another one here.

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