Mike Farrell wrote a thoughtful and balanced article about the meeting orchestrated by the city to promote the expansion of the Morris TIF.
Farrell explains that the Morris TIF can be extended for an additional twelve years, but only by an act of the state legislature. Moreover, the state legislature will not do so unless the local school boards agree.
The Morris TIF siphons approximately $3,500,000 from local school districts and other taxing bodies every year, and diverts that money to the City of Morris. The schools don't go without, however. The deficit is simply made up in the form of higher taxes for everyone in the school districts - including those who do not live within the city limits of Morris.
Some points for consideration:
- At the meeting organized by the City of Morris on September 22, the mayor told the audience that he is engaged in negotiations with the school districts for the extension of TIF. Do the school boards know what their superintendents are up to?
- The city's TIF attorneys are not impartial experts on TIF. They are advocates who are paid extraordinary fees to advance the city's interests. They are hired guns.
- The school board members have the power to end TIF in 2009. Not only can they end the annual drain on school finances, they are also in a position to recoup over $9 million the city has accumulated for building a new municipal services building. If this money is not properly used by the end of the TIF, it must be returned to the taxing districts.
- School boards should not be concerned about city finances. They were elected to look out for the schools.
School boards need to be proactive. They need to hire an experienced TIF attorney. They need to do this now.
School board members must be held accountable if they fail in their duties to the children and the taxpayers.
21 comments:
YEAR AFTER YEAR THE SCHOOLS CRY POOR.
Finally, if they are willing to stand up to city hall they have a chance to put real dollars to work for the kids.
Is someone at the schools worried they might not get invited on a fishing trip to Canada?
Pat Halloran the superintendent of 101, has told business people that the Morris TIF agreement has cost 101 $450,000.00 last year alone. Over twenty years the number is in the millions.
What about 54 and 60C?
The mayor needs this money to keep his crony machine running 110 percent.
The city of Morris has collected $38,000,000.00 of diverted taxes since 1986. They plan on spending in one swoop, 28% of the entire 23 years of TIF for a project that has nothing to do with the meaning of the TAX AND NEVER WILL MAKE A NICKEL OF FOR SCHOOLS AND OTHER TAXING DISTRICTS.
The mayor and city council have proven they can not be trusted with this tax on the schools.
Next time any Morris school superintendent or board member crys poor, just smile and LAUGH.
Also when one says they can not afford band because of lack of funds, fire them.
if you do not support the extension of TIF, call your school board members and voice your opinion and ask them their position. If you feel very strongly about ending TIF maybe a grassroots petition will make it clear,
Sledge, you need to do a post about how Sam's Pizza is being bullied by a member of the Corn Festival Committee. This committee member demanded that Sam "donate" $1,000 (twice the standard rate). When Sam refused, this committee member said he would place a competitor's pizza stand right in front of Sam's place! Then the police showed up and told Sam to move his tables. The really galling thing is that this Corn Fest committee member has interests in several downtown businesses that sell on the sidewalk at reduced or no charge to the Corn Fest Committee. Sam is a hardworking businessman and he should not be subjected to tactics resembling threats and extortion. Has Morris' pay-to-play politics taken over Corn Fest too?
Sam shouldn't have played with the Morris elite. When he had his extra thing going on with the Pink sign chick all hell broke loose and he is now blackballed by the upper crust of business in town. My sister rec'd a call from a friend the pink sign chick who said to stop doing business with Sam, sorry we like the pizza too much to stop calling there.
The city collects about $3.5 million in TIF money from property taxes each year. There are about 2,500 parcels of real estate within the TIF. The Morris TIF adds an average of $1,400 in property taxes to every tax bill every year.
The economy is in the crapper. Roll me a fat one.
Read the MSNBC article about Cicero's new city hall. Sounds just like Morris, except we pay exorbitant fees to lawyers instead of a PR guy. Same job, different title
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26879124
Who is the pink sign chick???
The wise thing to do is direct that money back to the school districts to make an investment in the future of America. The economy is in shambles and locally we have politicos that want to build some personal memorials to their regime before they leave office - - I SAY NO WAY! The schools should demand the money back as soon as the TIF ends and put it back into the hands of the taxpayers and students. They have hoarded this money long enough, the downtown looks good enough and we have everything we need here right now. What will happen to all these TIF businesses if the public has no money to spend at them? I want my bacon back!
why woud corn fest worry about sam's pizza. have you ever been in there? ANd why doesn't the health department shut that infested sleaze ball place down anyway? Good pizza? edbantage reelkey have you ever had real pizza?
What the heck is the County going to squander all that money on? Don't they know most of us residents are struggling financially right now. I can't afford more taxes.
Bucky who?
Dear 9:44PM
The county is wanting to build a new highway garage and animal control and redo the courthouse and buy up the grocery store and who knows what else. Some of the cronie contracts are already issued. So you can bet that some contractor is going to sponsor youth football, another contractor will be blacktopping some driveways and someone else will probably get some drainage put into their farm field from the good buddy network.
Dick ~n~ Pat are buds now.
when property taxes start to reset downward with the declining home values the EAV for school districts will begin to shrink. One way to partially offset this is to let TIF expire. Are you listening local school board members?
Sledge, check out House Bill 773
Looks like Debbie Halvorson signed right up to screw us all, we can remember that in the voting booth. Tell everyone you know to look at ilga and see how our money will be squandered for Dickie's Taj Mahal
Farrell's op ed in the MDF is garbage. Weary taxpayers opposed to astronomical taxes are "mistaken" if they think death of the TIF will lower our taxes. The implication from this piece, straight from the TIF lawyer, is that I need to be educated, that I'm misinformed. Please, we need commitments from school board members, superintendents, and Ms. Gordon that this scam will be allowing a natural death. The time is NOW!!!!!!
I am confused, after reading county board member Ken Iversons response on what he would do to hold the line on taxes, His response was local school consolidation. Does that mean that Mr Iverson cant find any reductions in the COUNTY BUDGET, so he is telling the local school boards he has a better idea about their budgets.
The "I" is correct; school consolidation is a "no brainer" in cost savings. Many of the local school districts are unofficially consolidated by sharing contractors and aligining curriculum objectives. The official completion of consolidation would result in further savings from lowered admin costs and, to complete this, would bruise the egos on the school boards.
School board members please think of the community first! The unselfish-overall picture advocates school consolidation.
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