CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday named a task force led by public finance banker Carole Brown to recommend tax-increment financing reforms.
Former Mayor Richard Daley, who did not seek re-election after 22 years in office, relied heavily on TIFs during his tenure to spur economic development downtown and in neighborhoods.
But some critics say he overused the tool, which is designed to turn around blighted areas, and they are pushing for better tracking and disclosure of how funds are used in individual districts in order to track the value of investments.
Emanuel, who took office Monday, charged the task force with evaluating the current system and coming up with policies to bring greater transparency, accountability, and efficiency to the TIF program. The group is charged with coming up with standards and criteria to gauge TIF performance and success. He wants a report in three months in order to incorporate changes in the 2012 budget.
“This committee has a simple task, to create accountability systems that will ensure our TIF investments go to projects that have real return for taxpayers — new jobs and new economic development,” the mayor said in a statement.
Emanuel tapped Brown, a pubic finance banker at Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. to lead the task force. Other members familiar to the public finance community are Adela Cepeda, owner of A.C. Advisory Inc., and Laurence Msall, president of the Chicago Civic Federation, a business-backed organization that reviews governments’ tax and fiscal policies.
Other members are Alderman Carrie Austin, Bruce Katz, a vice president at the Brookings Institution, Melinda Kelly, executive director at Chatham Business Association Small Business Development Inc., Steve Koch, vice chairman at Credit Suisse, Andrew Mooney, commissioner of the Department of Housing and Economic Development, Julia Stasch, a vice president at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Rachel Weber, a professor in urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Chicago declared a surplus in 20 of its 160 TIF districts last year to free up $180 million to be used to help close a city budget deficit and to aid the Chicago Public Schools and other local taxing bodies. The surplus at the time stood at around $700 million.
When a TIF district is established, any growth in property tax revenues is diverted from local taxing bodies to a fund that goes to finance infrastructure and other projects within the district’s boundaries.
