Citing many unanswered questions, Community Consolidated Elementary District 181 Board members officially registered their opposition Monday to a proposed tax increment financing district in Clarendon Hills.
The joint review board, comprised of a member of each affected taxing body and one member of the public, followed up with its own vote to recommend rejection of the TIF Wednesday afternoon. Without the board’s support, the Clarendon Hills Village Board needs a supermajority vote, or 60 percent, to enact the TIF.
Hinsdale High School District 86, whose board also opposes the TIF, sent out a release Wednesday afternoon about the review board’s decision.
“District 86 believes the JRB decision reflects the broader community’s concerns and emphasizes the necessity of ensuring that any redevelopment plan serves the best interests of our schools and taxpayers,” the release states.
District 181 Superintendent Hector Garcia said Monday the district had recently received an intergovernmental agreement from Clarendon Hills that would provide them with some of the TIF’s proceeds. The district’s attorney was still reviewing it as of Monday’s meeting.
“We’re really at a point in the situation where I don’t have anything tangible to offer the board that would get me to recommend any other way than to vote against the TIF at this time,” Garcia told board members prior to their 7-0 vote to oppose the TIF.
Clarendon Hills this summer notified the districts of its proposed TIF, which runs along 55th Street from Western Avenue and Route 83. During the 23-year TIF period, taxes on any increase in assessed value in the district are funneled to TIF projects and not received by local taxing bodies. District 181 estimates it would lose $1 million to $3.2 million in tax revenue over the life of the TIF.
TIF districts are typically used in areas that are considered blighted to promote redevelopment. The village’s proposal states the TIF is needed “to overcome a variety of redevelopment barriers.”
The Clarendon Hills Village Board will hold a public hearing on the TIF at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19. The board then must wait at least 14 days before holding the final vote to establish the TIF, according to the D86 release.
