City of Morris to increase fees?

Are plans in the works to begin charging residents up to $40 per month for garbage pickup?  

Court says taxpayers can sue to stop TIF abuse

A new Illinois appellate court case gives ordinary citizen taxpayers the right to sue to stop abusive TIF practices by a municipality.  

In Malec v. City of Belleville, the City of Belleville passed an ordinance to enter into a TIF agreement to develop vacant property that it said was "blighted."  Steven Malec, a citizen and taxpayer, sued to declare the city's TIF ordinance invalid because the area was not in fact "blighted" as required by the TIF law.

The city moved to dismiss Malec's claim, trotting out the familiar but untrue argument that TIF does not raise taxes because TIF funds would not exist but for the creation of the TIF.  Thus, according the the city, the general funds of the city were not impacted, taxpayers were not affected, and Malec had no standing to sue.  The local trial court agreed with the city and dismissed Malec's suit.

The appellate court reversed the trial court and reinstated Malec's lawsuit.  The appellate court rejected the city's argument, finding that  TIF does impact taxes and general revenues.  Accordingly, taxpayers are permitted to sue to stop cities from violating the TIF law, even if they don't live in the TIF district.

Finally, a court sees through the patently false (but often repeated) assertion that TIF does not raise taxes.  

Mayor gets 22% salary increase

According to this Morris Daily Herald article, the mayor will be getting a whopping salary increase. Not only does the mayor's salary go from $68,798 to $71,550, he also will receive an additional salary of $15,000 for being "liquor commissioner." Being liquor commissioner is part of the statutory duties of being mayor. Hasn't this always been considered part of the job? This amounts to $17,752 over the current salary, or 22%.

The move was spearheaded by alderman Brian Feeney.

Change in TIF law threatens downtown Morris businesses

House Bill 773 is advancing through the legislative process, on its way to becoming law.  

According to the Illinois Enterprise Zone Association, HB-773 will expand the Prevailing Wage law to include nearly every construction and renovation project in TIF districts, and will require Prevailing Wage even for even those undertaken by private businesses.  

In plain English, businesses and property owners in TIF districts will be required to pay union scale wages anytime work is done on their building or equipment.

According to the Illinois Enterprise Zone Association, the result will be a massive escalation of cost for virtually all work done by private businesses in TIF Districts. 

Read the article from the Illinois Enterprise Zone Association here.

Follow the progress of the bill here.

Will School Board Members Act Responsibly?

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.