Failing 'Smell Test': Clarendon Hills Hears Tax District Foes

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Representatives of three school districts on Monday questioned a Clarendon Hills plan to set up a special district that would divert tax dollars from the schools.

They spoke during public comments at a Village Board meeting. So did several Clarendon Hills residents, who also cast doubt on the proposal.

The tax increment financing district, or TIF, would be designed to spur development in the area along 55th Street, village officials say.

Catherine Greenspon, president of the Hinsdale High School District 86 board, said "extraordinary" local schools draw families to town.

If tax dollars go to the special district, taxpayers in other areas will pick up the slack, Greenspon said.

"It scares me this village could approve a TIF district that would be detrimental to the public school system that brings families here," she told the board.

A special tax district in Clarendon Hills would help the neighborhood along 55th Street in the south part of the village. (David Giuliani/Patch)

Sinead Duffy, a member of the Hinsdale School District 181 board, said she did not see a need for a tax district. She noted Clarendon Hills' data that showed growth in the property tax base that outperformed the village as a whole.

Dozens of properties in the proposed district, Duffy said, have been improved in recent years.

"It's not really passing the smell test," she said.

Michael Jones, president of the Maercker School District 60 board, advised against a swift village decision.

"Make the voices you have heard as part of the package," Jones said.

Jones said a tax district in Westmont has brought great benefits, with the coming of LA Fitness and Mariano's, among other businesses.

But he said the Clarendon Hills district would mean an estimated loss of $3 million to $6 million for Maercker over 23 years.

"It's money that has to be found somewhere," Jones said.

He said his school district was open to some type of tax-sharing deal to "dampen the blow." District 86 and Clarendon Hills have indicated openness to such an idea.

Last week, a state-mandated committee of taxing bodies voted 4-3 against Clarendon Hills' proposal. The three school districts were joined by Downers Grove Township in opposition. DuPage County abstained, while the College of DuPage was absent.

This decision means that a tax district would need the support of a three-fifths majority of the Village Board.

Daniel Quealy, a Clarendon Hills resident who served as a public member of the committee, was among the supporters of the village's plan.

He noted the village's argument that the fire department must bring water to the south side of 55th Street during emergencies because of low water pressure.

"We have residents at risk during a fire," he said.

He said a tax district was one way to get improvements done. A study from seven years ago pointed out the infrastructure issues along 55th Street, he said.

"Nothing has been done to address this by the village," Quealy said. "This looked like an opportunity."

He added, "I would like to see some negotiation and some reasonableness from the schools... It doesn't have to be one way or another."

Village trustees did not indicate how they would vote on a tax district. A public hearing on the matter that had been set for Monday was delayed until Sept. 16 at the earliest.

After the public comments, Village Manager Zach Creer said the village was doing more analysis of the proposed tax district.

Trustee John Weicher said the board needs more data "at a bare minimum."

Under state law, a special district's property taxes generated from growth in its tax base are diverted for 23 years for the district's benefit.

In an email to Patch on Friday, Creer said the impact of Clarendon Hills' Ogden Avenue tax district after 18 years amounts to only .02 percent of District 86's annual budget.

He said the village's consultants are coming up with a better idea on the tax impact on schools.

"Our Ogden TIF only recently reached six figures annually after over 15 years of which only a fraction would have been due to the schools," Creer said in the email. "So you are talking about fractions of a percent, even if you assume that the Village doesn’t know what it's doing and the development would occur naturally. Again, I think that is a big assumption given the poor infrastructure and lack of new construction in the 55th Street area."