A proposed tax increment financing district (TIF) that would include the site of the former Walmart store in Homewood was approved Monday, Jan. 6, by representatives of taxing bodies that will be affected by freezing the equalized assessed value in the district.
The Joint Review Board for the proposed North Halsted TIF District viewed a presentation by Senior Economic Development Consultant Nina Coppola of Ryan LLC. The firm was hired by the village to assess the feasibility of the district and create a redevelopment plan.
Coppola explained that the proposed district would meet the requirements set by the state to become a TIF district. She said the district covers 236 acres, including 16 improved tax parcels and 23 unimproved tax parcels.
The area of the proposed district covers most of the area from about 175th and Halsted to Ashland Avenue on the west and Ridge Road on the south, including the Izaak Walton Preserve, which was included mainly to enable a contiguous area that could use improvement on the northeast side of the village.
Regarding the preserve, Coppola said, “Everyone should be reassured that the village has no interest in any commercial redevelopment here. It was included primarily to undertake potentially some storm water management improvements as well as to get some contiguity over to some of the parcels on the west that the village is interested in rehabbing and redeveloping.”
In addition to the goal of redeveloping the former Walmart site, the trailer court and vacant or underused office buildings on Ridge Road would be redevelopment targets. The boundary excludes areas along Halsted that already have thriving retail and other businesses and areas within the district boundaries that have commercial and industrial businesses operating, including those along Hoffman Way and Presidents Drive.
A joint review board (JRB) is convened as one step in the process of creating a TIF district. The equalized assessed value (EAV) of properties in a TIF district are frozen for 23 years, and as property values rise, the additional tax revenue generated is placed in a special fund that can be used to support improvements that can stimulate long-term economic development growth and increased tax revenue after the district expires.
The budget for the district is a little more than $33 million. The current EAV of the area, which would serve as the base or frozen rate, is a little more than $16 million. Coppola said the projected EAV at the end of the district’s life is between $30 million and $35 million.
All taxing bodies in the district get a chance to review the feasibility study and redevelopment plan and offer an advisory opinion to the village Board of Trustees. Village Attorney Chris Cummings reminded board members about the nature of their role.
“This is an advisory body that makes a recommendation to the home village board about whether or not the proposed TIF meets the standards as required by state statute,” he said.
After Coppola’s presentation, Eric Trimberger, Homewood School District 153 chief school business official, offered a comment from the school district.
“We understand the need for this and we’ll support it,” he said. “I just want to make a comment about the fact that the 2023 reassessment, we saw the residential burden of property in District 153 increase from 61.2% to 71.5%, resulting in our residents seeing $4.2 million more in the overall tax bill.”
He asked village officials to be aware of the increasing tax burden on homeowners and to do anything they can to mitigate it.
Cummings indicated the TIF could actually help taxpayers by redeveloping problem properties. He used as an example 17924 Halsted St., an office building just south of Petco.
“That building has not been occupied for well over 10 years and it hasn’t paid a dime in property taxes,” he said. “You can look in those windows and see it raining inside there.”
He said the boundaries were created to include properties like that in order to create opportunities for redevelopment, because “right now they’re not contributing.”
In addition to Trimberger, representatives included Luke Chmielewski, director of the South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District; Colleen Waltman, director of Homewood Public Library; Lawrence Cook, Homewood-Flossmoor School District 233 chief school business official; Doug Boehm, director of the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, with Karen Garrity, the district’s superintendent of finance and administration; Angela Mesaros, Homewood economic and community development director. Jim Foster was elected to serve as the community member required for each JRB.
Homewood Village Manager Napoleon Haney, Assistant Village Manager Terence Acquah, Finance Director Amy Zukowski and Trustee Allisa Opyd also attended.
The next step will be a public hearing on the proposed district that is expected to be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the village hall board room. Public hearings are usually held prior to the start of regular board meetings. The board could then vote on the ordinances establishing the district at a meeting in March.
