Some view TIF districts as a corporate welfare system that hands money to developers in the form of incentives for redeveloping underused properties. Others see TIFs as a long-term solution to a problem that otherwise couldn’t be solved. But for the TIF and such incentives, they argue, such redevelopment could never take place.

If Brookfield’s TIF becomes a reality, it will have an impact on every thing from Lyons Township to Lyons Township High School, Elementary School Districts 102 and 103 and Cook County.

“We will essentially lose revenue we can put to work to educate kids,” said District 103 Superintendent Michael Warner. “The school district really doesn’t have much say. We’re at the mercy of the village. I just hope the village remembers their kids are being affected.”

The crux of the issue is tax money. Every taxing district wants its share, and some aren’t willing to gamble that a 23-year TIF is going to pay off in the end.

During the length of the TIF, property assessments are frozen, meaning that townships, school districts, library districts, etc., can collect taxes only on the assessment level that’s determined when the TIF is established.

While those properties will continue to be reassessed and redevelopment might make those assessments climb dramatically, the only beneficiary of the additional tax revenue is the TIF district itself. That money can be used to pay for expensive infrastructure improvements as incentives to spur new development.

Only after the TIF expires-23 years or longer if the TIF district is extended-will taxing bodies benefit from the new, higher property assessments.

While Brookfield’s stretch of Ogden Avenue is just a small portion of the taxing districts affected, Brookfield’s proposed TIF isn’t the only one the taxing bodies are dealing with.

District 103 has five TIF districts within its boundaries, one in McCook and four in Lyons. District 102 has lived with LaGrange’s downtown TIF for two decades. Lyons Township High School has three TIFs within its boundaries (McCook, LaGrange and Hodgkins).

The Township of Lyons, meanwhile, has TIF districts scattered throughout-including LaGrange, McCook, Justice, Bridgeview, Summit, Hodgkins, Lyons, Hickory Hills and Willow Springs.

For Lyons Township Supervisor Pat Rogers, the TIFs have been a boon to the township.

“First, we like our municipalities to have an array of options with respect to economic development,” Rogers said. “The reality is that TIF is the only one on the horizon.

“The Township of Lyons certainly does not object to Brookfield considering a TIF for economic development.”

Rogers pointed to The Quarry shopping center, which runs along Joliet Road east of LaGrange Road as a prime example. That TIF has been so successful, Rogers said, that taxing bodies have already received payments from the TIF in the form of surpluses.

Such a scenario playing out on Ogden Avenue is unlikely, since the proposed TIF area doesn’t have the open land area Hodgkins had for big-box retailers to develop.

“Obviously when you’re retrofitting a community, it poses significant challenges,” Rogers said.

While the township has a happy view of TIFs, school districts approach them much more cautiously. The reason? Schools depend on triennial reassessments for additional tax revenue. Even though commercial property assessments on Ogden Avenue have risen slower than residential assessments in recent years, they have generally gone up.

In 2002, the total equalized assessed value for property in the proposed Brookfield TIF district went up 14.4 percent. In 2005, it went up 14.9 percent.

During the life of the TIF, the assessments in the TIF area will not change for taxing bodies.

School District 102 Superintendent Mark Van Clay estimated that the LaGrange TIF has cost the district $8 million during its lifetime. While the district will see a $1 million tax boost (based on present assessments) when the TIF district expires in 2009, “school districts just don’t carry reserves that can take them through two decades,” according to Van Clay. District 102 approached voters twice during the lifetime of the TIF for an education fund tax hike, prevailing in 1995.

While the TIF experiences have been positive in Hodgkins and LaGrange for Lyons Township High School, District 204 Superintendent Dennis Kelly questioned the need for developer handouts at the expense of school districts.

“The frustrating thing is that it’s like capitalism no longer exists,” Kelly said. “Developers, no matter where, want incentives. If, in fact, an area is a blighted, [a TIF] is a good idea. To say that they can exist anywhere is counter to what the free market will tell us.”

The Village of Brookfield started the clock on creating a TIF district along Ogden Avenue, with trustees voting unanimously to pass two measures at their Feb. 25 meeting.

Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral has also announced that a public meeting on the TIF, required by statute, will be held at 7 p.m. April 15 at the village hall, 8820 Brookfield Ave.

Members of the public are invited to attend the meeting and give input on the proposal. Sbiral will give a presentation at the meeting, and a representative from the village’s TIF consultant, Kane, McKenna & Associates, will be on hand to answer questions.

The first measure passed Feb. 25 was a resolution authorizing the village’s TIF consultant to prepare a TIF feasibility study, which will also include a housing impact study.

The feasibility study is required by statute for proceeding with the TIF process. In Brookfield’s case, a housing impact study is also required since the proposed TIF map includes more than 75 housing units and the creation of the TIF district could result in the displacement of people from 10 or more of those units.

The feasibility study will be presented to a joint review board consisting of representatives of other taxing bodies. That group will make a recommendation to the village board to either accept or reject the TIF, probably in June or July.

The board also passed an ordinance establishing an interested parties registry. Any individual or organization may register as an interested party by completing a registration form available at the village hall offices.

For three years, all people and organizations on the list will be sent notices of all meetings related to the TIF and notices of any proposed changes or amendments to the TIF.

-Bob Uphues