Bartlett likely to set up special tax district board

Bartlett trustees plan to convene a temporary board that will recommend whether the village should establish a special taxing district downtown.

For more than a year, officials have been considering a tax increment financing district as an economic engine for the downtown, where 24 percent of the buildings stand vacant. A village-hired consultant also ruled in favor of creating a slightly bigger district than one that expired in 2010.

The next step is calling a joint review board through a measure trustees are expected to approve at their March 3 meeting. The advisory panel likely will consist of officials from Elgin Area School District U-46, the Bartlett Fire Protection District, Elgin Community College and other taxing bodies that would lose out on lucrative property tax revenue from any new development during the life of the TIF district.

Property values within those taxing bodies would be frozen for up to 23 years in a TIF district. As development boosts property values above those levels, the village would funnel the extra tax revenue into a special fund that can be used to pay for improvements to the downtown.

Nearly 60 buildings are included in the district's proposed boundaries, from Wilmington Drive to the east, Devon Avenue to the south, Western Avenue to the west and Oneida Avenue to the north (excluding some neighborhoods).

Trustees again on Tuesday reviewed a report by the village's TIF consultant, Kane, McKenna and Associates Inc. Officials haven't determined how much the TIF district could raise or identified who would benefit. But the firm says an estimated $17.5 million in projects are eligible for TIF funds, including roadwork and sewer upgrades.

The last TIF district generated $20.4 million, with incentives going toward the Town Center and new business facades. Still, the downtown faces unique challenges compared to the rest of Bartlett, the consultant says. Business owners pay higher Cook County sales taxes than what Bartlett retailers in DuPage and Kane counties pay.

The firm also cautioned that developers are unlikely to invest in the downtown without TIF incentives mainly because of aging buildings and utilities and declining property values. The developers behind the Town Center shops and restaurants also are interested in applying for an incentive that would fund more parking spaces, a project they told the village would help attract more tenants, Community Development Jim Plonczynski said.

"Many of these people that we deal with will not come to the village in the downtown area unless there is some means of providing an incentive," Plonczynski said.

After the joint review board issues an opinion, the village board also would hold a public hearing on the TIF district.