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player ready...La Grange Park’s Village Board Tuesday unanimously approved two budget resolutions earmarking Tax Increment Financing money for infrastructure improvements.
“I definitely think we need to support this,” Village Trustee Karen Koncel, Chairwoman of the Administrative Committee, told her colleagues after presenting the budget resolutions.
TIFs are financing tools used by municipalities throughout Illinois to promote development and invest in public infrastructure. When a TIF district is created, the property taxes for the district’s properties are set at a base level of whatever they were at the time the TIF is established.
Any growth in the value of the property over the years generates an increase in tax revenues, and these increases — or increments — are set aside for the TIF fund to finance the improvements in the district.
La Grange Park’s two TIF districts, implemented in 2017, showed fund balances for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 of $629,401 (31st Street/Barnsdale TIF) and $734,688 (Village Market TIF).
The money approved by the Board for the 31st Street/Barnsdale improvements include $264,000 for new sidewalks, $125,000 for lighting, and $90,000 for electric vehicle charging stations.
Other smaller outlays will go toward ADA curb ramps, landscaping, permanent public benches, and various pedestrian safety measures, for an estimated total of $708,600.
The Village Market TIF money includes $300,000 for lighting, $156,000 for sidewalks, $90,000 for electric vehicle charging stations and various smaller amounts for pedestrian safety measures for an estimated total of $743,000.
The move to direct TIF funds toward these improvements comes after last month’s Board approval of a consultant for the Village’s Streetscape Improvement Plan.
The Village began soliciting proposals for a consultant for the plan late last year. Staff and the Commercial Revitalization Committee received six proposals, interviewed four, and Feb. 22 approved Sam Schwartz, a national firm with an office in downtown Chicago for a contract calling for $70,710, with a 10 % contingency fee.
The Streetscape Improvement Plan includes the Village Market Shopping Center just East of La Grange Road, the complete boundaries being La Grange Road on the East, Oak Avenue North, Barnsdale East and Elmwood Avenue South.
These are essentially the same as the Village Market TIF district, the only difference being that the improvement plan also extends North on La Grange Road to Harding Avenue.
The aim of the plan is to provide Village Market with a sense of place and a visually pleasing gateway to the Village as the motorist enters the Village from the South on La Grange Road. A special emphasis is sought for infrastructure investments and improvements, including ideas for sustainability and safety for people accessing Village Market.
The 31st Street/Barnsdale TIF district, separate area, is on 31st Street from Homestead to Blanchard Avenue, and Homestead and Barnsdale roads from 31st Street to 26th Street.
The plans for both the Streetscape Improvement Plan and the two TIF districts can be found on the Village website, lagrangepark.org
While the budget resolutions passed Tuesday fall slightly short of covering the costs of the projects listed, Village staff expects the TIFs to produce more revenue by the time it the money is actually allocated.
“The TIFs accumulate more money as we speak,” Assistant Village Manager Maggie Jarr said later in a telephone interview.
Jarr indicated that Sam Schwartz’s timeline for producing a complete report was six months and that the budget resolutions passed last night demonstrated to residents that the Village was spending the money on public improvements.
The 31st Street/Barnsdale TIF district is not included in the SSIP, but will be the subject of a similar study in the near future.
“We will undertake another separate study for that district in the future,” Jarr said.
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The next La Grange Park Village Board meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. March 22, La Grange Village Hall Board Room, 447 N. Catherine Ave.