Geneva D-304 continues to mull over city’s request for TIF support

GENEVA – If Geneva gets the nod for a 12-year extension of its East State Street Tax Increment Finance District, it is estimated to generate $2 million in property taxes – money that otherwise would go to Geneva District 304, which is the largest taxing body in the TIF.

The money would provide the city’s local share of roadway improvements from the Fox River to Kirk Road. The city has partnered with the Illinois Department of Transportation for the improvements because State Street, which is Route 38, is a state road, officials said.

The rub is the school district is looking at cost increases in its capital budget plan, as well as increases in its overall costs, board member Paul Radlinski said Monday.

“Their estimate is that this will cost our district $190,000 a year. You add that over 12 years, that’s going to be another $2.3 million assuming no increase in EAV (equalized assessed valuation) or cost of inflation,” Radlinski said. “I am concerned that after the initial 23 years, they’re asking to take this to 35. And that is a bit concerning to me that you can’t get it done in the first 23 years, how do you expect to get it done in the next 12? … That needs to be answered.”

This was the second meeting in which school board members discussed the city’s request. School board members plan to vote on the request at their next meeting.

A tax increment financing district – known as a TIF – is a development tool local governments use to encourage development or redevelopment in blighted areas that would be too expensive to improve with private dollars alone.

TIF districts last 23 years, but they can be extended by General Assembly action with letters of support from taxing bodies within the TIF district.

City officials said the Illinois Department of Transportation has delayed the project many times. The East State Street TIF, known as TIF2, was created in 2000 and will expire this year.

The extension is necessary because the state will not have bid letting for the project until the end of next year, past the end date of TIF2.

City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins spoke at the school board meeting, saying the improvements are a complete overhaul so that East State Street will look like West State Street and there will be traffic flow improvements.

In response to Radlinski’s concern about the city not having a capital plan for the TIF money, Dawkins said, “The whole purpose of TIF is to reinvest.”

“So it has to do with bringing in businesses, bringing in investment into that area that will raise the EAV,” Dawkins said. “Any project could come up.”

A developer or business might want to relocate in the TIF area, but because of its expense, TIF money can be used in a public-private partnership, Dawkins said.

“The idea is if we build it, they will come,” Dawkins said. “Every expenditure of TIF funds first has to be approved by the City Council.”

Board Vice President Jackie Forbes said in her day job as chief of planning and programming for the Kane County Division of Transportation that she can verify the state has delayed the project.

“Unfortunately, the timeline she is referencing is true,” Forbes said.

Dawkins said she has received a letter of support from Kane County.

The other taxing districts have not had their meetings this month.