Explore our content

All types | All dates | All authors
City of Chicago
PI Original
by Adam Doster
9:46am
Thu Aug 5, 2010

Daley's Defensive TIF Stance

Tax increment financing

At yesterday's State of the City address, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sounded like a politician who had no intention of ceding control over his tax increment financing empire to ease Chicago's budget woes.

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
9:30am
Thu Aug 5, 2010

Munoz To Endorse Coal Plant Ordinance

Frustrated with a lack of action to curb carbon emissions on Capitol Hill, Ald. Rick Munoz (22nd Ward) told WBEZ' Chip Mitchell yesterday that he will sign on as a co-sponsor of Chicago's Clean Power ordinance, which would force coal plant operators within the city limits to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 50 percent and soot-producing particulates by 90 percent within the next four years. This is a huge win for the environmentalists pushing the bill; one of Chicago's two coal-fired power plants operated by Midwest Generation -- the key target of the ordinance -- is located in Munoz' ward. Not coincidentally, the polluter has showered Munoz with campaign contributions over the past decade.

Munoz' move means that another key holdout, Ald. Danny Solis (25th Ward), now has no real cover to vote down the ordinance on parochial grounds. (Solis represents the ward in which the other Midwest Generation plant is located.) Neither do the rest of the stragglers on the City Council, whose wards would experience serious air quality improvements as a result of the proposed regulation.

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
2:30pm
Wed Aug 4, 2010

Do We Own The Meters Or Not?

So which is it, Mayor Daley?

For months, officials in the Daley administration have insisted publicly that Chicago still owns the street parking system it hastily handed over to Chicago Parking Meters LLC in 2008. They claim the deal just allows the private company to operate the meters for 75 years. Behind closed doors, they aren't as convinced. Mick Dumke, now with the Chicago News Cooperative, makes a great catch this afternoon. Looking through a recent court filing connected to a lawsuit introduced by the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization last year, he finds that city lawyers openly acknowledge they no longer own the infrastructure. "The fact that the Concessionaire now owns the parking meters and receives the meter fees does not eliminate the public benefits,” they write in a dismissal motion. (Emphasis added)

Daley might have another lawsuit to deal with, as well. David Ormsby reports that a Chicago-based class action attorney might file suit regarding complaints about inaccurate meters. This is a campaign issue that isn't going to disappear before February.

Quick Hit
by Aricka Flowers
3:04pm
Tue Aug 3, 2010

Weis' Weak Murder Defense

With stories of shootings splashed across metro newspapers daily, Chicago's Police Superintendent Jody Weis used a news briefing yesterday to push back against the impression that Chicago's streets are growing increasingly violent. Using graphs and stats, Chicago's top cop argued that overall crime is down and that the homicide rate is holding steady this year after having dipped considerably over the last 20 years.

But late last month, the Chicago Police Department released crime data for June showing that there was an increase in homicides during the first six months of 2010 as compared to the same period last year. In a related press release, Weis himself said homicides were up by more than 5 percent between the two years. Popular police blogger Second City Cop, for one, is leery of Weis' attempt to quell fears of escalating violence.

Earlier today, Weis joined Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Mayor Richard Daley as they announced plans to deploy more officers to high-crime areas. Hopefully, the new initiative will be effective in reducing Chicago's violent crime rate, which is still three times that of New York City.

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
9:32am
Mon Aug 2, 2010

Daley And The TIF Surplus

Facing a $654 million budget deficit, Chicago budget director Eugene Munin said Friday that the Daley administration would "have a discussion" about redirecting some tax increment financing (TIF) dollars to plug the city's hole. Indeed, aldermen told the Sun-Times' Marc Brown that city officials have already "started seriously exploring how it might tap into the funds." It seems that conversation, unfortunately, is going to be one-sided.  Asked about potential budget fixes on Saturday, Mayor Daley told the press that he has little interest in tapping into his tightly-controlled TIF slush fund to provide fiscal relief.

Daley's public rationale is that by returning "surplus" TIF funds to local taxing bodies, the city would only net about $140 million to cover operations. The rest would be tossed back into the accounts of local taxing bodies (such as the Chicago Public Schools or Chicago Park District) whose budgets rely on local property taxes. But it's important to remember that a surplus exists because the city is siphoning off more tax revenue than it can spend each year on public improvement projects. Plus, declaring a "surplus" isn't the only TIF option available to the city. (We ran through a few additional possibilities here.) If Daley and aldermen get creative, reining in the TIF system could provide just the shot in the arm Chicago's government needs.