MCC Teacher Ignores MCC Board’s Opposition Woodstock TIF District

From Woodstock’s Susan Handelsman:

2018 Woodstock TIF 2 City Council Appeal 11-20-18

Woodstock City Council, the only people empowered now to stop Woodstock TIF 2, need to be made aware that the so-called ‘taxpayer’s representative” on the Joint Review Board

  • refused to talk to concerned taxpayers
  • refused to listen to evidence of TIF effect raising taxes
  • refused to present evidence supporting her “Yes” vote on the JRB

Ms. Bonnie Gabel is a teacher at McHenry County College.

She was aware of a Resolution passed by the MCC Board prior to the Joint Review Board vote, condemning the TIF.

Tax districts would be denied any increases in tax revenue generated in this 562 acre swath of Woodstock for 23 years. It represents 5% of Woodstock’s current assessed valuation.

Let me read relevant portions of that resolution:

“WHEREAS, the diversion of tax dollars to the City that would otherwise come to the College and District 200 has real consequences on these institutions and on the students who attend them, and will only exacerbate the financial strain under which District 200 is currently operating;

and WHEREAS, the City previously created and implemented a TIF district, and the resulting benefits to the community were negligible;

and WHEREAS, the College finds that TIF districts are generally a hidden tax hike in that they make available tax giveaways to business by taking money from schools, colleges and other taxing districts in a way that is not transparent; and as a result, just to balance the books to make up for the money lost, other taxing districts must raise tax rates or eliminate services, thereby hurting those not receiving subsidies from the City; and…” [emphasis added]

The TIF Statute makes no provision for forcing a taxpayer representative to do anything other than vote the way that the City managers who appointed her tell her to vote.

BUT: You City Council Members must not take the Yes vote of this woman as in any way indicative of your taxpayers’ interests.

Two no votes from the JRB come from schools.

These are educated, evidence-based objections.

I ask each City Council Member who intends to vote yes to TIF 2 to produce an evidence-based cost benefit analysis using real numbers which are from HERE, not Naperville, refuting the objections of the Woodstock D200 schools, McHenry County College, and the taxpayers.


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