TIF system being abused for development
Kane County's Tax Increment Financing deals are ballooning in size and frequency. Intended to rejuvenate downtown areas, these incentives are now exploited by developers, diverting hundreds of millions of dollars into corporate welfare. This practice removes valuable land from fully contributing to taxing bodies for 23 to 47 years.
Instead, money is redirected to developers. These developments impose additional burdens on taxing bodies, including expenses for roadwork, fire department inspections, increased police protection and more. School districts, which rely on over 60% of our taxes, are the biggest losers. Homeowners will ultimately pay for these expenses.
To justify a TIF, an area must be proven blighted and only possible to develop "but for" the TIF. TIF advisor S.B. Friedman manipulates blight requirements by labeling prime farmland as vacant and claiming downstream flooding within the watershed. This abuse of the TIF Act effectively circumvents its intended purpose, turning it into a tool for corporate greed.
In Sugar Grove, Crown Community Development aims to pave over prime farmland along the I-88 and Route 47 Corridor (under ownership of shell company Sugar Grove LLC). This will initiate industrial sprawl and transform the entire area's character.
They seek a $350 million TIF, removing appreciation on nearly 800 acres of highly valuable land from the tax base, while not disclosing their intentions. The costly burdens of this development will be felt countywide, particularly by the Kaneland community and local environment with destruction of established wetlands, compromised watershed and death to over 6,000 old-growth trees. Additionally, it poses a potentially fatal threat to hundreds of families and commuters along Route 47 with heavy truck traffic, air pollution and contamination/drying of shallow private wells.
A public hearing is set for 6 p.m. on June 18 at Waubonsee Community College's Academic Center. Follow Thoughtful Progress for the I-88/Route 47 Corridor for details.
Carolyn Anderson
Blackberry Township