By: Diane Benjamin If you still have no idea what a TIF is, see this post: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/12/tifs-explained/ TIF reports back to 2010 on are line at the Comptroller’s office. Older reports would have to be obtained by FOIA. I will report on where the money was spent on the OLD Downtown TIF at some point, […]
By: Diane Benjamin As Bloomington decides to blanket the City with TIF Districts, let’s look at the Town of Normal. They have FIVE! First a little review. TIF’s create money for the City without any over-site. The City Council will never be asked where to spend this money – it’s comes from keeping taxes generated […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course the Bloomington City Council passed everything Tari Renner wanted last night. It’s all going to be great. Public Comment was stacked with former officials and friends of government who proclaimed the $1,400,000 land purchase brilliant, the east side TIF brilliant, and the downtown hotel brilliant. Except for the one guy […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did you know Tax Increment Financing (TIF) was outlawed in California? Way too much money was going to developers and campaign contributors and costing taxpayers money – so they were outlawed. (Note: California!) Bloomington wants one on the east side, one downtown, and it’s unclear if the downtown TIF would expand to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has a long record of making bad deals. MILLIONS were thrown away on an unused Fire Station. Probably MILLIONS more were thrown away on an unused water tower – someday I may FOIA the actual cost. The Coliseum is a disaster sold to citizens as never costing a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Besides everything else I’ve already written about, the Colonial Plaza + TIF District is on the agenda. Here is the report you paid $36,600 for: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9514 Start on page 244. There is a map of the proposed TIF on page 250. The City of Bloomington wants to claim they have a better […]
Closing: Office Depot (K-Mart shopping center) I see a setup for a TIF!
By: Diane Benjamin If my Internet hadn’t been down AGAIN for most of the day, I’d look up the video. Maybe you remember Renner talking about downtown: “We wouldn’t want a Jiffy Lube on the corner”. Did you elect a Mayor or god? Who gave him a right to decide what goes where? Maybe Jiffy […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Ensenberger building is held by the Huffs as Ensenberger Building Corp. They own other properties under Front N Center and Consolidated Properties Inc. To view the County Recorder of Deeds website you have to apply for access, so I will just give some highlights: No Ensenberger condo sales are listed since 2013, the only activity […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why should Bloomington and Normal not merge into one city? Since Normal already has offices nicer than most corporations, Uptown would be the new center of government. Citizens could save a ton of money on overhead and administration salaries. Koos is already running Bloomington anyway, so let the savings begin. A hotel downtown didn’t wait for a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner now has green light to create another TIF district in downtown Bloomington so he can have a hotel. Bloomington elected his candidates last Tuesday, so the only thing that can stop him is the local taxing bodies that have to agree to not get any increase in property taxes if any […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal has FOUR TIF districts as of 2011: (the latest info on the comptroller’s website) http://www.comptrollerconnect.ioc.state.il.us/Office/LocalGovt/ViewTIFReports/DisplayTIFRpt.cfm?CFY=2011&BetaSel=N The City of Bloomington has TWO as of 2011 and wants another one to fund a downtown hotel: http://www.comptrollerconnect.ioc.state.il.us/Office/LocalGovt/ViewTIFReports/DisplayTIFRpt.cfm?CFY=2011&BetaSel=B Why isn’t the information listed more current than 2011? Maybe government doesn’t want you […]
By: Diane Benjamin Here’s the problem with candidates running for office: They are unwilling to stand on principles and values Almost every candidate tries to hide where they stand on the issues because they know they would not get elected saying what they really think. In 2013 I filmed Aaron Schock at a Town Hall […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City issued the following explanation of TIF districts with the budget. See Book 2 – page 85 http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8223 A Downtown TIF District was formed in 1986. A TIF (Tax Increment Funding) District receives the incremental property tax revenue for properties located within the TIF district boundaries. The incremental difference is the […]
Illinois has a law – union labor only needs to apply for construction contracts. Of course, they call it paying “prevailing wage” and require apprentice programs. Tonight Bloomington wants to require union labor for construction in TIF districts – like a new hotel downtown. Free market labor NOT welcome. Can anybody think of a union […]
by: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Mayors have been spending money trying to revitalize downtown since at least 1986 – that’s when the first TIF district was created. TIF districts provide money for the City to spend however they want – they keep the difference between the current taxes collected on properties and what is collected after […]
by: Diane Benjamin Back in 2009, $4,000,000 was suddenly located in TIF money. The Pantagraph reported it here: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-audits-find-million-on-hand-for-redevelopment/article_2b5ce074-b786-11de-917a-001cc4c03286.html Outside auditors located the money, not City staff. Then there is a lawsuit still pending against the City filed by David Bentley because he did not receive funds to rehab the CII East building. He also […]
by: Diane Benjamin What is a TIF district? Tax Increment Financing. The latest information posted on the Illinois Comptroller’s website (2010) shows Bloomington has 2 – Normal has 4: http://www.comptrollerconnect.ioc.state.il.us/Office/LocalGovt/ViewTIFReports/DisplayTIFRpt.cfm?CFY=2010&BetaSel=B http://www.comptrollerconnect.ioc.state.il.us/Office/LocalGovt/ViewTIFReports/DisplayTIFRpt.cfm?CFY=2010&BetaSel=N TIF districts are used as a re-development tool when taxes don’t want to be raised. The City of Bloomington will consider creating one tonight […]
by Diane Benjamin The Normal Mayor and City Council decided the outlined area in the picture below was blighted and needed to be redeveloped. They filed a plan and deemed this area a Tax Increment Financing site (TIF). They have purchased A LOT of properties and gave some away. More on that below. Click on […]
