Richmond: TIF or NO TIF?

When you boil it down, a TIF is a tool to finance current improvements in a municipality. You pay for the improvements with the anticipated gains in property values that, in turn, generate higher tax revenues.

I think the success of any TIF is not predictable though many towns across the country are betting on their own TIFs. Take a walk through the downtown area in Richmond. Note the condition of the sidewalks and curbs. Check out the condition of the buildings and the vacancies. There is no doubt that the area is deteriorating.

Richmond is at a crossroad. It can leave things alone and hope that somehow the downtown can reverse the trend. Or it can institute a TIF plan. Both have their merits and shortfalls. Both options involve risks. No one can say which is better with absolute certainty.

If I asked to meet you in downtown Spring Grove what comes to mind? Is it on Main Street near the grade school or is it on Rt. 12? In fact, Spring Grove does not really have a “downtown.” Spring Grove has spent its time and efforts filling up cornfields with new houses and making space for gravel pits. The long anticipated of the Jewel Food Store comes at a hefty price - a new water tower. Along with other concessions, it’s almost as though Spring Grove has its own TIF in place.

The school districts sent out a letter last week. It was perfectly timed to arrive at resident’s houses just before the TIF hearing in Richmond. The headline and content screamed that a TIF will definitely explode your real estate taxes in the future. People from Spring Grove stormed Memorial Hall on the night of the public hearing. No wonder. The people with credentials after their names scared them into action.

Unfortunately the letter was missing a very important ingredient. To make a fair decision as to whether the TIF will raise taxes, we need to know what happened in other towns like Richmond after a TIF was initiated. I doubt that this type of data is available since TIFs are only 50 years old.

If hard proof was available, I suspect that it would be waving from the school flagpoles. Superintendents Oest and Hain may have the best interests of the school districts at heart, but perhaps not the interests of the village of Richmond.

While Spring Grove is filling up cornfields with new houses, Richmond is trying to deal with the possibility of a failing economy if not outright bankruptcy. This is in no small way the result of boneheaded decisions by previous administrations.

Spring Grove could enact a transition fee for new houses like Richmond already has in place. This alone would account for a few hundred thousand dollars in benefits for everyone over a few short years.

Richmond officials are saying a TIF would have little or no impact your pocketbook. The schools say it will cost millions. The answer likely lies somewhere between.

Take a closer look at your real estate tax bill. You will find that 69% of the money you sent to the State in 2006 went to fund the local schools. Another 5% went to McHenry County College. The real problem of the frightening increase in real estate taxes is the proliferation of housing developments, not the possibility of a TIF.

Perhaps it is time for the school districts and Spring Grove to pay closer attention to their own operations and stop telling Richmond how to handle its affairs.