As you know, together, we allocated over $40 million dollars in 47th Ward TIF funds to public schools, parks, libraries, and infrastructure over the last five years. But over the last few years, CPS schools have been in constant turmoil caused by legacy financial issues. So in February of 2016, my office placed all 47th Ward TIF funded projects on hold. All unencumbered/unallocated TIF funds were made available for surplus. Click here to read the Chicago Sun-Times story on the announcement. But it is clear more TIF reform is needed.

We must recognize that TIFs exist because the federal government stopped providing direct federal aid to cities decades ago. States have been slow and inconsistent in passing capital bills. In response, cities began using TIFs. TIFs freeze the taxes within a specified geography and capture revenue growth caused by rising property values. The captured revenue is then used to fund projects within the specified geography. The captured dollars make up tax revenue that would have otherwise gone to CPS, the Chicago Park District, Cook County, the Cook County Forest Preserve, etc.

So the Coonley School addition was built, in part, by leveraging dollars that would have otherwise gone to the parks. The Welles Park improvements were financed, in part, with dollars that would have otherwise gone to Cook County. The first problem is TIFs only work in areas where property values go up. So by design TIFs are inequitable because wards like ours can capture dollars at a faster rate and then fund projects much more quickly than other communities. The second problem is school districts in Illinois rely heavily on property tax revenues to fund school operations. Without progressive revenue options to fund schools, Chicago gets hit twice because there are no capital funds (from the State or Federal Government) to fund necessary projects and CPS relies on property tax dollars to fund schools. This means, while TIFs make it possible to fund capital and economic development projects, they simultaneously capture dollars that would have otherwise gone to schools. This results in the third problem: We don't grow the pie, we simply fight over scraps. We end up in a situation where parks are pit against schools. Cook County is pit against parks, and so on.

In my mind, there are two solutions. First, we need to move away from TIFs as a geographic tool, and instead, capture revenue from around the City into a general pool of funds. The general pool could then be used to fund projects all over the City of Chicago. Second, and most importantly, we need more revenue for all schools in Illinois so that property tax dollars aren't the only major source of revenue for school operations. Additionally, we need the State of Illinois to pass a capital bill so that the City of Chicago is less reliant on tools like TIF to pay for parks, school additions, and new development. Both solutions will take time - perhaps years. But in the meantime, we must surplus as many dollars as possible to help our public schools, and we need TIF reform.

I am proud we will lead on both fronts. This week, I announced the early retirement of the following 47th Ward TIF Districts: the Ravenswood Industrial Corridor TIF and the Western Avenue South TIF. Both TIF districts reside entirely in our ward. Retiring these two TIF districts will send over $8 million dollars back to taxing bodies annually. Like most major reforms, retiring these two TIFs will take a couple years. The Western Avenue-South TIF still has obligations to pay off the Coonley School addition, improvements to Clark Park, and the Martha Washington complex. Once these obligations have been met, and we've advanced necessary work to Revere Park, I will move to retire this TIF district. My goal is to retire the Western Avenue South TIF in late 2017 or early 2018. The Ravenswood Industrial Corridor still has commitments to fund small business improvement projects and a study I am commissioning to develop a long-term plan for the Ravenswood Industrial Corridor which balances the need for new housing, commercial, and retail activity with the needs of the surrounding community. My hope is to fund this study in late 2016 or early 2017 so the next alderman will have a framework to that he or she can use to inform land-use decisions. Once these commitments have been met, my plan is to retire the Ravenswood Industrial Corridor TIF in late 2017 or early 2018.

In addition, I am working with Mayor Emanuel on a city-wide TIF reform ordinance which would do the following:

• Codify a TIF surplus policy
• Enable aldermen to opt-in to a larger TIF surplus program where they can freeze TIF districts and automatically surplus new dollars (above existing obligations) until a year of their choosing or until the TIF expires
• Enable aldermen to start the process of retiring TIFs early

We hope to introduce this reform effort at September's City Council meeting. Again, like most reforms, change takes time and patience - I intend to see these reforms through. I will keep you posted on our efforts.

To read the Chicago Sun-Times coverage on our TIF reform efforts, click here.

To read the DNAInfo story on our TIF reform efforts, click here.