Mayor’s $1B TIF Sweep Sparks Aldermanic Revolt

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to declare a record $1 billion tax-increment financing surplus to help cover a new Chicago Public Schools contract set off a rare wave of unified opposition at City Hall this week, with aldermen warning that the move would gut neighborhood development projects across the city.

The proposal — a centerpiece of Johnson’s $16.6 billion budget unveiled this week — would divert $552.4 million of TIF dollars to CPS, with the rest going to other taxing bodies, in what critics described as a “bailout” for the school system at the expense of parks, libraries and economic development initiatives, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Even Johnson’s allies bristled. Alderman Michelle Harris of the 8th Ward, who chairs the City Council’s rules committee, said the “drastic sweep” could cripple future projects in South Side communities that rely heavily on TIF funding.

“Unintentionally or intentionally, we will lose projects in communities of color,” Harris said at the meeting.

Budget Director Annette Guzman defended the proposal, insisting that no existing or approved projects were cut to create the surplus, and that 83 percent of the city’s 108 TIFs are netting year-over-year growth. Guzman said replenishment of funds was expected as property values within the TIF districts continue to rise.

Still, the backlash was immediate. Alderman Nicole Lee of the 11th Ward said she was blindsided by the plan, calling it “off-putting” that affected wards were not consulted.

Alderman Jason Ervin of the 28th Ward, the powerful Budget Committee chair, joined the pushback, noting that about 70 percent of the TIF surplus would come out of economically disadvantaged areas.

Ervin further demanded that CPS repay the city for a disputed $175 million pension payment for nonteaching employees — the same issue that prompted the mass resignation of the mayor’s appointed school board and the firing of CEO Pedro Martinez earlier this fall.

The fight over the TIF sweep overshadowed debate on Johnson’s other revenue-raising ideas, including a $21-per-month corporate head tax and a 14 percent cloud computing levy — both decried by business groups as potential “job killers.”

— Eric Weilbacher