Village Gets an Update on TIF District Study

 The Village got an update at Monday night’s Village Board Workshop meeting on the results of a TIF District feasibility study that the Village commissioned in November last year. 

Maureen Barry and Nancy Hill of Ehlers & Associates presented their findings to the board, which favorably determined that the village would likely be eligible to designate a portion of the downtown a TIF District, which is anticipated to generate between $16.5 and $34.5 million in revenue for the improvement in the Central Business District.

A TIF, or Tax Increment Financing District is often used to spur development and to generate funds to use in public projects that would otherwise be too expensive by borrowing against future tax revenues.

According to the report, Glen Ellyn’s Central Businesses District in Downtown Glen Ellyn could be eligible for the TIF designation as a “blighted” and “conservation” area.

Hill was quick to point out that the terms sound harsher than they are, and are simply the legal requirements to pursue future plans to designate the area as a TIF District. 

“I want to stress this; Glen Ellyn is a very attractive community,” Hill told the board during her presentation.

While Ehlers & Associate’s description of downtown Glen Ellyn as blighted may surprise residents, the term (in TIF terms) refers more to the number of vacant storefronts, crumbling and cracked terra cotta and even potholes and cracks in the pavement, Hill said.

The Central Business District would also meet the requirements for an area that needs conservation, due to the number of historic and older buildings.

The Village first began looking into a TIF District as a possible revenue stream for downtown development after the adoption of the Downtown Strategic Plan in late 2009. The plan called for looking for a variety of funding sources, one being the designation of a TIF District.

The process to designate the area as a TIF District will likely take 4-6 months, Barry told the board, which will include a lengthy approval process in the village.

“This is the first conversation,” Board President Mark Pfefferman said to close the meeting, “not the last.”