This is from the Daily Herald. Read thoroughly, sounds very similar to Riverside. Once again, an electorate is against a TIF proposal but of course the elected officials know better. Why does our board, like other pro-TIF boards continue to insult the voters by saying we don't understand what is a TIF is. Why do they insult the voters, the very people who put them in office, by saying that if you are against a TIF, scare tactics were used. Why do they feel that we voted against the TIF based on misinformation. What misinformation? The board made their case with those workshops and their TIF was rejected. I am thoroughly disgusted with our entire village board. Unfortunately, we are stuck with them. I have reviewed Illinois Municipal code, there is no recall option in Illinois. The only option is to vote all of them out of office at the next opportunity.
____________________________________________________________________________________
TIFs dominate post-election talk
Losers in Lindenhurst, Lake Zurich wonder if tax issues took center stage
By Corrinne Hess and Madhu Krishnamurthy
Daily Herald Staff Writers
Posted Thursday, April 19, 2007
Voters ousted incumbent village leaders on opposite ends of Lake County Tuesday, and both communities had something in common.
Campaigns in Lake Zurich and Lindenhurst focused heavily on development and the use of special taxing districts to pay for it.
In Lake Zurich, the acting village president and three board members defended their borrowing of millions for a downtown tax increment financing district redevelopment effort. All the board members lost in Tuesday's election, while the president barely survived.
In Lindenhurst, incumbent board members and the mayor faced criticism over their consideration of using a TIF district for redeveloping open land. They all lost.
“Absolutely, the TIF was what did it,— defeated Lindenhurst Mayor James Betustak said Wednesday. “We voted that thing down Jan. 15, but (the challengers) kept it alive because they knew it was the only issue.—
In addition to the municipal races, voters in three townships overwhelmingly rejected the idea of using TIF districts for residential developments on vacant farmland. The advisory question was put to voters through referendums in Avon, Lake Villa and Warren townships. Voters rejected the idea in each township by at least 90 percent.
Norm Sims, executive director of the Illinois Tax Increment Association in Springfield, said if TIF districts impacted local elections, it is because voters don't understand them.
“If anything, it is more site-specific and case by case than a statewide revolt,— Sims said, adding Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin was re-elected Tuesday and he touted the city's use of TIF districts in his campaign.
“It is hard to sort out what goes on in the minds of voters,— Sims said.
TIF districts are redevelopment tools used by local governments to attract and retain businesses and to rebuild older parts of town.
Such districts are controversial because for up to 23 years from their creation, tax money generated by increasing property values is used to pay for improvements, such as sewers or roads, within the district. So schools and other taxing bodies lose out on that increased revenue.
Lake Zurich has borrowed about $29 million to fund a downtown redevelopment effort supporters say will revitalize the village.
Throughout Lake Zurich's mayoral and village board campaigns, challengers questioned the TIF district borrowing and spending.
Village president challenger Rich Sustich, who came close but failed to defeat acting President John Tolomei, said Wednesday the long-term viability of the downtown TIF district was a pivotal issue in the campaign. Yet, the election may have turned on whether the public really understood TIF districts, he said.
“Whether the TIF was actually good or not wasn't as important as finding out what the investment was in the TIF,— he said. “It wasn't simply the issue of development, it was the sense of people not knowing what was going on in the community.—
The incumbents have contended there was a lot of misinformation about the TIF district and village finances that may have cost them the election.
Tolomei said Tuesday he did not know whether the ouster of the board incumbents would stall the redevelopment effort.
“I have really no idea where these people really stand and what's their objective at this point,— Tolomei said.
In Lindenhurst, elected leaders considered creating a TIF district to fund the proposed Village Green project, a mix of residential and commercial development. But the board decided against a TIF district after residents and three school districts protested.
Voter turnout in Lindenhurst Tuesday was 32 percent, compared to 17 percent countywide.
Betustak said the higher turnout was an indication of scare tactics used to get voters to the polls.
“What they are being told by school districts is the TIF is stealing from the children,— he said. “How do you get back to a logical discussion as opposed to an emotional discussion?—
Lindenhurst Mayor-elect Susan Lahr said Tuesday the issue wasn't the TIF district proposal itself but the communication to residents during the process. Residents want to be represented by someone who will listen to them, Lahr said.