Carpentersville cautious on new TIF districts

Carpentersville is one step closer to creating new special taxing districts, but trustees want to move forward cautiously.

Dozens of residents filled the village board room Tuesday during public hearings on two proposed tax increment financing districts: one at Spring Hill Mall and the other along Route 31 in the Old Town area.

Trustee Pat Schultz said the number of residents concerned about the latter TIF should be a sign that officials need to mull all possible outcomes.

"We have to consider what the benefit would be to spend money down there," she said. "We have to be careful about this TIF and the business development."

In a TIF district, the property tax revenues that go to local governments are frozen at a certain level, which is set on a base assessed property value. Any taxes generated above that level can go back into redevelopment.

TIF money generated in the Spring Hill Mall district, for example, would go toward the mall's $37.8 million redevelopment project, said Geoffrey Dickinson, senior project manager with SB Friedman, the village's consulting firm.

Using the incremental tax revenue, Carpentersville agreed to reimburse mall owner Rouse Properties $1 million for the project. West Dundee, which is considering its own TIF district for its portion of the mall, will contribute $7.6 million.

"Without this TIF, the project wouldn't go forward," Dickinson said.

The proposed Old Town and Route 31 TIF district, he said, is more complicated because it covers a larger area and contains various property types: residential, industrial, commercial and vacant.

The TIF would stretch along Route 31, across the Fox River, along part of the riverfront and throughout a large portion east of the river - an area to which Carpentersville officials want to bring more businesses.

"The genesis with this TIF was the Old Town planning process of trying to revitalize that core," Dickinson said, noting that property values have declined in that area. "If approved, this would be a (financial) tool to help make those plans be realized. ... We don't see that development happening, especially on the public side, without a TIF in place."

Meanwhile, Community Unit District 300, which stands to lose potential new revenue for the next 23 years - the life of the TIF - opposed the plan. But Village President Ed Ritter said without improvement in that area, property tax revenue going to taxing bodies will continue declining.

TIF revenue could go toward various potential projects, Trustee Paul Humpfer said, such as stabilizing property along the Fox River, improving infrastructure and changing traffic patterns, especially at Washington and Main streets.

The village, for example, has been working with a third-party consultant to consider how a roundabout could alleviate traffic congestion, he said.

The TIF district could also serve as an incentive for businesses to relocate to that area, Ritter said, but some residents questioned whether more development would be the best choice for that area.

"By creating the TIF district and bringing more development into Old Town, I don't know how that's going to solve the traffic problem," said resident Ron Poore.

Trustees encouraged resident comments and said all aspects of the area's future development need to be considered before they vote Jan. 5 on the proposed TIF districts.

"This is a big project for us," Humpfer said. "We have to be careful with what we're doing here and try to do the right thing. I think we're all committed to doing that."