http://www.chicagosuburbannews.com/riverside/homepage/x1989251013
A TIF decision: Riverside board at a crossroads —” spend more or listen to voters?
By Dan Petrella
Riverside Suburban Life
Mon May 14, 2007, 09:17 PM CDT
Riverside, IL -After spending more than $80,000 to pursue a controversial plan it hopes will revitalize downtown Riverside, the Village Board now faces the decision of whether to spend more money to continue the process or to listen to voters, who overwhelmingly rejected the idea in last month's election.
The board will have to pay a consultant an additional $40,000 to $50,000 to refresh a now-outdated study required to create a tax increment financing district, which it believes will help pay for infrastructure improvements and attract new business and development downtown. Previous delays have already more than doubled the amount paid to consultants to draft the study.
“The question is, do we want to go forward with this or not?— Village President Harold Wiaduck said May 7 at a board meeting. “I personally feel this is a tool that can be useful to the village over a long period of time. On the other hand, we are going to have to invest a significant amount of money in this. If we do that, I think we need to be reasonably committed that we're going to follow through on it. ... If there is a time to stop this, this is probably the best time to do it. Because otherwise it's going to cost us a lot of money.—
But opponents said the board should already know the answer to that question. Voters rejected the idea by a 4-1 margin in an advisory referendum April 17.
“I call on you to stop this now and not spend another penny on it,— resident Donald Spatney said during public comment. Spatney has been an outspoken critic of the TIF district proposal.
The price tag
The board early last year authorized a $37,500 contract with Chicago-based consulting firm Kane, McKenna and Associates. It approved an additional $10,000 in June for a housing impact study, which is necessary if the village wants to use TIF funds to purchase any residential property within the TIF district. In October, the board agreed to pay the consulting firm $15,000 more for additional meetings with elected officials and local business owners.
The board presented the TIF district proposal to residents in November, and it was met with numerous concerns and criticisms. In December, the board decided to put the process on hold to host a series of eight community workshops to educate residents and gather input on the plan. Kane, McKenna and Associates billed the village an additional $11,659 for work done to prepare for and participate in the workshops.
The data used in creating the initial eligibility study was based on property value data from 2005, which has become outdated.
Village Manager Kathleen Rush said the additional cost is attributed to the board stopping the process to hold community workshops. Such workshops are not required by law and are not typically held by communities pursuing TIF districts.
“I'm somewhat vexed that we seem to be penalized because we took time out for the workshops,— Trustee Kevin Smith said. He speculated that opponents of the plan might be trying to delay the process to the point where the cost becomes too great to continue.
The vote
Many residents are frustrated that the board continues to pursue a TIF district even after voters resoundingly rejected the idea in April's election. In fact, more voters cast ballots against the TIF district than voted for any of the current or incoming members of the board.
“We just had an 80-20 referendum against the TIF, and now we're talking about spending another $45,000 to $50,000 to go forward,— resident Mike Tomecek said. “It's like an assertion of raw power, and there's a disrespect of the idea of government of, by and for the people.—
Trustees have questioned the reliability of the vote because they feel misinformation about the proposal was circulated by opponents prior to the election.
“Some of the issues that I have with the election is that a lot of the data on the fliers is incorrect,— Trustee Candice Grace said. “So that calls into question in my mind what the people voted on. Because if I hadn't been at workshops and known what was going on and saw that, I might have voted no.—
But some residents who spoke publicly at Monday's board meeting bristled at the idea they are misinformed.
Beth Zuschlag said she has attended meetings and workshops, read meeting minutes and newspaper articles, and spoken with village and school officials. She is not misinformed, she said —” she just has a different opinion.
The problem
Trustees said they need to address problems with the downtown that have been identified in numerous reports, studies and surveys over the last 20 years, but don't have the money to do it. These problems include empty storefronts, aging buildings, outdated sewer and water systems, and lack of parking. But expenses are exceeding revenues and budget reserves are drying up, and the village believes a TIF district might be the way to combat these problems.
“I've lived in this village now for 35 years, and my wife has lived in this village for 54 years,— Trustee John Scully said. “(She) will talk to you about clothing stores. She'll talk to you about five-and-dimes. She'll talk to you about food stores, more than one.
“There are two restaurants in the central business district,— he said. “Go over and have a glass of wine tonight at Parallel 42. There's a sign on the door that says, —˜Closed for the month of May.' Let me know when it reopens.—
Residents at the meeting argued that the problems facing downtown Riverside are widespread and beyond the scope of what a TIF district can solve.
Cyril Friend grew up in Metropolis, a small town in southern Illinois. He said the problems facing Riverside are common to small towns across the country.
“Our problem is we're a small town, not a suburb,— Friend told the board. “Don't try and make us a suburb. People say we don't have retail like La Grange, like Oak Park, like Hinsdale. ... I would just ask, don't make us a homogenous, generic suburb by trying to compete with these other suburbs and develop into a multi-unit mecca like a Westmont or a Clarendon Hills or a retail mecca like La Grange.—
The workshops generated ideas similar to what has been suggested by plans and studies in the past, Trustee Grace said.
“What happens every time? There's no money for it. There's no money to fund what people in this room have said they want,— she said. “I'm not talking about massive redevelopment. I'm talking about (Frederick Law) Olmsted legacy. I'm talking about landscape improvement to the central business district and some infrastructure improvement.
“People keep saying, —˜What are you going to do about the central business district?' And then when we try to do something, they say, —˜Oh, but no, you can't do it that way.'—