CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86 board members this week opposed Clarendon Hills’ request for a special tax district to help the 55th Street area.
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While Clarendon Hills contends the area needs investment, the school board’s leader said the neighborhood is “already booming.”
The board brought two lawyers from the Robbins Schwartz law firm. They cast doubt on the village’s proposal for a tax increment financing district, or TIF.
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The proposed improvements along 55th Street, attorney Scott Ginsburg said, are not the type that “scream that more residents are going to be willing to pay more money in this area.”
“I don’t see an improved stormwater system making home values go through the roof in my experience,” he said.
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Board President Catherine Greenspon agreed.
“What we’re seeing already just with regards to (home) sales within the TIF district is that it is booming already,” she said.
The district would generally run along the north and south sides of 55th Street between Western and Holmes avenues.
After a TIF district is established, the money generated from the growth in the property tax base would go to the district itself. Under state law, that money can be invested in projects in the district that spur development, benefitting the local economy in the long run.
Under state law, schools and other taxing bodies would not receive any of the growth in tax money over 23 years. The argument is that a TIF would stimulate enough development that other bodies would benefit in the long run.
The school board belongs to a state-mandated committee of local taxing bodies that would vote on the Clarendon Hills district. If most of them vote against it, that would require three-fifths of the Village Board to vote for the TIF, rather than a simple majority.
Towns often enter agreements with school districts so that schools get at least some of the tax income from the growth in the tax base. Elmhurst is an example.
In a unanimous vote, the board directed its representative on the TIF committee to vote against the village’s proposed district.
At the same time, board members urged the village to delay the TIF committee meeting, which is set for next Wednesday. They said they still had questions and were open to some type of income-sharing agreement.
In an email to Patch on Thursday, Village Manager Zach Creer said the village was also open to it. The power to form a district, he said, sits with the Village Board.
“That being said, we understand the importance of our school districts and realize their success is our success and would not take action to adversely impact their operations,” Creer said.
Such districts are complex, Creer said, but they do not impact a taxing body’s ability to levy taxes under state law.
Now, he said, the village, its engineers and its economic development consultant believe poor infrastructure is severely impacting the area in question. That includes the 55th Street and Western Avenue intersection and water capacity limits, he said.
“Also, the Village staff believe that not being proactive to be ready to help preserve major taxpayers such as the Jewel-Osco would be a mistake with the current grocery consolidation,” Creer said.
He said the village has traditionally been prudent with its TIF districts. With its Ogden Avenue district, when the village identified no projects, it sent money to the taxing bodies, he said.
The Ogden district removed the Mayflower Hotel and added an Infiniti car dealership, which was a “huge success for taxpayers,” Creer said.
The downtown district has seen similar progress with rapidly decreasing vacancies, Creer said. The district has invested in code-violating buildings to attract higher-quality tenants such as Il Mio restaurant and Tierra Distilling, he said.
Also, the village has incentivized “attractive mixed-use” downtown development such as Mycroft Row, Creer said.
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