Chicago officials announce $325K in TIF spending … on batting cages

The city’s latest taxpayer-funded development project reinforces the need to eliminate tax increment financing in favor of honest and transparent city budgeting.

At a time when officials at all levels of Chicago government are crying poor, the city has chosen to spend tax dollars on another pet project – this time, on batting cages.

City officials announced Feb. 22 that Chicago will spend $325,000 in tax increment financing, or TIF, funds on the construction of batting cages in Humboldt Park. That amount accounts for approximately half of the total project budget of $656,000. The Chicago Park District will pay for the rest of the project through its capital budget and donations, according to DNAinfo.

Residents across the city ultimately have to shoulder the burden of mismanagement and backroom deals. Taxpayers in Chicago’s struggling neighborhoods should not have to absorb losses caused by the diversion of tax dollars for TIF developments. As long as the mayor has total discretion over TIF tax dollars, Chicagoans will continue to lose.

TIF projects are meant to invigorate “blighted” areas that are unlikely to see private development without government incentives. Instead, the latest project from the city will spend over a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money on batting cages. In the case of Humboldt Park, the city is cutting out the private developer middleman and entering into an agreement directly with the Chicago Park District to build the cages.

Under this form of project financing, local governments freeze the existing tax rate for a designated area and collect all tax revenues above that rate due to increased property valuations for use in the TIF. Individual taxing bodies (e.g., the city of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Chicago Park District, City Colleges of Chicago, Cook County, etc.) get their usual share of the money at the frozen rate.

TIF is not, and never has been, free money. It funds redevelopment at the expense of other taxing bodies. Given that the Illinois General Assembly continues to pass bills favorable to TIFs, getting rid of TIFs may be a tough task, but it should be the ultimate goal. In the meantime, a good first step would be for the city of Chicago to allow existing TIFs to expire or close districts until none are left. This would force the mayor and Chicago City Council to spend taxpayer money in a responsible and transparent manner. Until then, the mayor and his connected friends will benefit while Chicago taxpayers suffer.