Heartland College board backs TIF extension for Uptown Normal

Heartland
Heartland Community College trustees voted 5-2 Tuesday in favor of extending a portion of Uptown Normal’s tax increment financing district for another 12 years.
(File photo by Howard Packowitz/WJBC)

 

By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – A fourth local taxing body is giving its blessing to the Town of Normal’s desire to add another 12 years to the life of Uptown Normal’s tax increment financing district.

The Heartland Community College Board of Trustees voted 5-2 for extending the TIF until the year 2038 for some undeveloped portions of Uptown.

TIF’s are controversial because tax revenue is diverted from local taxing districts into financial incentives intended to encourage private investment.

State lawmakers have to approve the TIF extension, and they generally want affected taxing bodies on board.

Heartland student trustee Josh Crockett voted against the proposal because he said it’s too expensive for students to live Uptown. Trustee Mary Campbell also voted no even though the intergovernmental agreement calls for developed properties in the district to return to the tax rolls in eight years.

“I have concerns about how many times the school districts, the community colleges, and all the others are being asked to give up their right to taxes that they need in order to continue their programs,” Campbell said.

TIF backers say the Uptown district has so far generated about $143 million in private investment and taxable property values have soared 180 percent in that time.

Normal Township trustees and the Unit 5 school board are scheduled to vote on the TIF extension Thursday.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…