By:  Diane Benjamin

As I reported in this story:  https://blnnews.com/2018/01/14/tuesday-normal-spending/

the Town of Normal made TWO payments of $217,078.24 during January to MCP Uptown Owner LLC.

I wasn’t kidding when I said a FOIA was filed!

I received 66 pages.

As part of the Uptown TIF, increases in property taxes paid are kept by Normal.  The Council agreed to rebate part of the increase back to this developer:

The property is 202-204 West North according to the County Tax bill, the Council documentation includes 206.

Taxes didn’t reach a value to rebate until 2014 – see this table:

The Town did owe the developer $217,078.24.  They didn’t owe them that amount TWICE.

Would the development have occurred without the rebate?  Hard to say.

Meanwhile all other taxing bodies, like Unit 5, are not getting a piece of the property tax increase.  They won’t until the TIF expires.

Normal is already talking about extending the TIF, they stand to get a lot of money if they don’t have to share the wealth.

I asked Normal to explain why TWO payments were listed for TWO different meetings.

This is their response:

The Council voted to approve the payments as written.  They approved both payments.  Evidently due diligence by the Council isn’t given or required.

Do they even look at what they are paying?  $217,078.24 is pretty hard to miss!

They claim the payment was only listed twice, not paid twice.

What else are they missing?
.
.
.