Collins recommends referendum to finance construction
By Dan McLeister
For The Elmhurst Independent
School Board members of District 205 discussed a possible referendum to finance construction and mentioned the idea of suing the City to release Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds. Future storm water projects with the City are part of the situation.
Jim Collins, vice president of the Board, spoke at a recent meeting.
“It became clear to me that the City, at least at this point, has no intention of releasing that money,” he said. Collins has been attending the annual Joint Review Board (JRB) meetings of all local taxing bodies located within the TIF District for the past six years beginning in 2009.
Board member Chris Blum said he thinks this a political question, not a legal one.
“No one has the desire to see two governmental entities suing one another, as strong as the case may be,” he said. “Unfortunately, the City doesn’t have to ask the community how to spend the money, but we do. If the taxpayers have an issue with that, they should call their City Councilman. There needs to be political pressure exerted on the City to live up to their promises. Otherwise, I think we need to put a referendum on the ballot.”
Blum, the chairman of the Board’s Finance Committee, noted that he and Chris Whelton, assistant superintendent of finance, have talked with Tom Trosien from the City Finance Department about the School District’s five-year plan of using TIF releases to fund capital plans.
Up until two years ago, this was acknowledged, according to Blum.
“As a matter of fact I think last year, there was a release–the first one—that funded part of our capital plan,” he said. “I have said for years that if we don’t have the money, we’re going to have to issue a referendum.
“So, if the City would rather use the money to build a new train station than to improve its schools, as you heard the community ask us for tonight, that’s their prerogative, but then it is our duty to ask the taxpayer for our own revenue stream, I’m sorry but that’s where it is going.”
“I disagree that it’s their prerogative; this has been a long-time community expectation,” said John McDonough, also a Board member. “The total release after the break-even point was the arrangement [then-Mayor Thomas D.] Marcucci personally described when he appeared before the Board in 2004. I was there that night. I took notes. I’ve been keeping track of this thing. The intent was to totally release.”
He said that approach was articulated in the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), which says the City “guarantees” that the releases shall at least equal the real estate tax receipts that the School District would have received if the TIF had not been extended, according to McDonough.
McDonough said that would be clear violation from the language of the agreement.
“The language does not allow in any reading, by any stretch of the imagination, to not have the release because of storm water needs. There’s no argument that could be made for that.”
“We need to work on this issue before we can work on any other storm water agreement,” said Board President Shannon Ebner. “We really can’t move forward with another project until we somehow settle this current issue with the TIF release.”
