Mount Prospect dissolves downtown TIF, prepares for new one
Mount Prospect village board members Tuesday voted to dissolve the downtown TIF district, which began in 1985, effective at the end of the year.
According to the village, by dissolving the current TIF and releasing the developed parcels, the village is providing all taxing districts more than $18 million of new tax base to support their operations.
In addition, the board passed an ordinance setting up a Dec. 20 public hearing for the proposed Prospect and Main TIF district in the downtown, which would include commercial properties along Prospect Avenue and Northwest Highway, and some properties that have been located in the present TIF but have not benefited from reinvestment.
The ordinance also set up the time of 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 for a Joint Review Board to consider the new TIF district.
The Joint Review Board shall consist of one public member and one representative from each of the following taxing districts: Harper College District 512, Township High School District 214, Mount Prospect School District 57, Mount Prospect Park District, Cook County, Elk Grove Township, Wheeling Township and the village of Mount Prospect.
The board heard from several members of the public Tuesday, both pro and con, about the proposed Prospect and Main TIF.
Some, like Mount Prospect School District 57 board member Joseph Leane, expressed concern about the proposed TIF.
Leane said of the school district, "We are located basically in the center of town. We are a top performing school district, based on our student achievement.
"On the flip side of that, when you look at our cost for educating children, it's the lowest in the area by far."
Leane pointed out that three-quarters of the district's funding is derived from local property taxes. Increases, he added, are limited by the tax cap.
He expressed concern that implementing a new TIF district would distribute the tax burden to the rest of the village and, as the result of the greater tax burden, make it difficult for the district to pass a referendum. It would also, he said, affect the district's revenues from the standpoint that it would not be able to benefit immediately from new construction, which is exempt from the tax cap, in the TIF.
On the pro side was Bill Murray, who said his business, Vista Linda Eye Care, although located downtown on Prospect Avenue, is outside the present TIF. As a result, when the business opened in Mount Prospect five years ago, it was not eligible for financial assistance.
"We spent tens of thousands of dollars rehabbing," he said, adding, "If it had been a close call, we probably would not have been here five years ago."
He said expanding the district could bring new businesses into the village.