Editorial: Village, Dist. 214 must find compromise on TIF

By all accounts, the village of Mount Prospect and Northwest Suburban High School District 214 have always had a good working relationship.

And that's to the benefit of taxpayers who are served by both governmental bodies.

But with local government and school funding so up in the air with the state's budget crisis, both the village and school district are looking out for themselves in a financial dispute that may go to court.

And then taxpayers lose.

At issue is the village's decision in January to approve a new downtown tax increment finance district that could last until 2040. Within those borders are properties that had been included in a previous TIF district established in 1985 and which expired last fall.

When properties are included in a TIF district, property taxes are frozen, meaning any potential increase in taxes through new development do not make their way to the school district - or other taxing bodies - for the length of the TIF term. Instead, they are redirected back into the area for economic development efforts.

"We reached out to them. We've sent emails. Our lawyers met with their lawyers. We met with the mayor. We got nowhere," said District 214 school board Vice President Dan Petro on why the district voted to authorize a lawsuit last week. They followed through this week by challenging the legality of the TIF in Cook County circuit court.

But that's not how Mount Prospect officials see it: "It's disappointing from our standpoint that they would jump right into a legal process where our mutual taxpayers are funding both sides of the litigation."

That is a very concerning issue. As is the fact that Mount Prospect apparently has not yet taken into account the concerns of the high school district. It's not helpful when the village manager learns of the potential lawsuit from the media or when he minimizes the district's concerns by saying the new TIF would change the District 214 property value growth by less than 1 percent.

In this age of divisiveness in politics, it would seem that two nonpartisan governmental bodies serving the same taxpayers should be able to work out a compromise solution. Though school district officials have filed their suit, we urge them to continue discussions with Mount Prospect officials, perhaps at the next school board meeting July 20. And we urge the village to consider compromise measures that would assuage some of district's concerns.

It can't be so hard to do that a judge has to get involved, can it?