City Council, City of Peoria, Southern Gateway, TIF

To TIF or not to TIF: that is the question

6 Comments

I’m not a big fan of tax increment finance districts (TIFs). I’ve seen them used irresponsibly (Midtown Plaza, for instance), and I’ve seen them divide this community. People are soured on TIFs. However, when used properly, TIFs can be a good thing. Sometimes, some places, you really do need tax incentives or development really won’t happen.

The Southern Gateway — and specifically the Eagle View Biotech Business Park — is one of those places.

The amount of money it would take to rehabilitate this area is enormous ($125,000/acre) and enough to dissuade even the most committed urban developer. Jennifer Davis gives an excellent overview of the city’s plans in today’s Journal Star. You can also read the Request for Council Action (PDF file) on the city’s website.

There’s a rule for determining eligibility for TIF funding. It’s called the “but for” test. According to www.illinois-tif.com, “When considering an area for TIF designation, municipal officials must ask the question ‘Will the same kind of private investment occur here without an incentive?’” I think the answer to that question for the Southern Gateway is definitely “no.”

I couldn’t say that about Midtown Plaza. I think that area could have been redeveloped without a TIF. Whether or not a TIF was needed around the Sears block, it certainly didn’t need to be extended for an unnecessary underground parking deck. It’s because of these and other abuses that Peorians are gun-shy about another TIF. I understand that.

But the Southern Gateway is different. The city isn’t trying to bring in a shopping center or visitor’s center or touristy stuff here — it wants to attract industry. And industry means real, well-paying jobs. Peoria needs to attract more industry, and putting it in this area along the river makes sense. We don’t want to see this industry go to other cities, nor do we want to see it going in a suburban corn field.

TIFs get a bad rap in Peoria, and deservedly so. But this time, I’m for it. It’s for this kind of project that TIF laws were made.

6 thoughts on “To TIF or not to TIF: that is the question”

  1. CJ:

    To me it is like ‘the boy who cried wolf’ and now that the time has come to propose a bonafide TIF — the villagers want to turn a ‘deaf’ ear.

    Also, there is no way that this TIF should extend up to and include any plans for a hotel attached to the Civic Center. That would be the continued ‘abuse’ of the S.O.P. of the previous Peoria TIFs.

  2. A small detail that should be considered when arguing this TIF tonight – and I just learned this today. The city of Peoria is one of only 4 cities in the country that is served by 8, count ’em, 9 railroad companies. I have the map from IDOT to prove it. (the other 3 are Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City). That is major league attractive to industry a la Caterpillar.
    Hence, this sounds like it could be a good use of the TIF.
    The thing that creeps me out is using fill from the IL river to build up the area out of the flood plain. A. the river is darn polluted, what is that fill gonna contain? Mercury? What will the dredging process stir up? What kind of scary ol’ chemicals lie in that dirt? B. Fill is fill is fill – somewhat unstable, man-made land – vs. a river that has been around since the tectonic plates broke apart, since God was a baby (insert phrase meaning super-old here), and I’d bet my dog that the river will take what it wants eventually – so I don’t trust “fill”.

  3. Actually, Peoria has ten railroads, if you count the tiny Central Illinois Railroad Company (CIRY), which like the other nine has common-carrier status.

  5. Might we see the words “Regional Museum” and TIF in the future again? Anybody? They only need……..how many more millions?

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