Heller Lumber has been at this location for nearly 100 years and now faces almost certain relocation. About 40 people attended the Village meeting to voice their opposition to establishing yet another TIF District in Arlington Heights.
But alas, the Board followed the same old script set down by the Mulder crowd of the 1990's, they voted to give tax breaks to out-of-town developers, at the expense of local homeowners.
The following letter was e-mailed to the Board on July 14th.
Trustee Mike Sidor was the only trustee to make contact with a comment.
Dear President Hayes and Village Board Members,
As
local representatives, I respect the unanimous 'yes' vote on the
Hickory/Kensington re-development project. In my opinion, the reasons
that were given publicly for that vote need further examination. For
example:
'This
is not build it and they will come'. Tax Incremental Financing
(TIF) is a supply side stimulant to the local economy that supposedly
would not have happened otherwise. The idea is that by constructing
housing, shops, and entertainment on a Village determined site will
somehow create it's own demand for those services sometime in the
future. This is build now through subsidies and hopefully they will
come later, with no structural vacancy.
'The
government does not build; none of us are going to back up
bulldozers'. Actually a Village sponsored jobs program would
probably provide a greater local stimulus than a tax subsidy giveaway
to the out-of-town developer crowd. Residents with jobs would then
look for housing, shopping and entertainment without developer
subsidies from local tax revenue. Of course, through TIF districts,
the government is in the construction business by offering subsidies
at predetermined sites.
'We
are trying to create a free market environment'. What makes the
Village Board believe it can choose where the free market environment
should be created? Designating a location based on 40% to 16% decline
in EAV does not automatically give the concern for trying to create a
free market. It is contradictory to believe a free market environment
can be created by meddling with subsidy incentives.
'These
are not tax breaks to developers'. TIF districts are indeed
breaks/subsidies given to developers, that are paid for by local
taxpayers, to build on a predetermined location. In a non TIF
district developers would have to pay for many infrastructure costs.
This is why municipalities set up TIF districts in the first place,
to subsidize developer costs and attract development.
'The
downtown would have never developed without TIF's'. Since we did
not have a parallel Arlington Heights downtown that developed without
TIF's, it is impossible to prove your statement as true. However, we
do know that the downtown would have definitely developed over the
years.
Instead,
the downtown development would have been market driven based on
demand leading to a much lower vacancy rate than we see now. Also,
Village taxpayers would have never been saddled with the ongoing
expense of the Metropolis Theater.
'We
will not use eminent domain'. Unfortunately many residents still
remember the International Plaza eminent domain fiasco of 2006. The
more we were assured on Monday that eminent domain would only be used
in extreme cases, the more uneasy everyone became.
We
all appreciate your effort to create a business environment in
Arlington Heights. However, the Board continues to use the same old
supply side strategies, that are arguably unsuccessful and expensive
to most Village taxpayers, while subsidizing the very few. Other
strategies such as homeowner tax breaks, local spending initiatives
or youth jobs programs should also be considered that would prove
cheaper and more effective.
I
look forward to your comments.
Sincerely
yours,
Keith
A. Moens
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