Lakewood TIF Meeting

From Lakewood Village Trustee Paul Serwatka: Tonight’s village board meeting An update on tonight’s meeting. Tonight’s meeting, in my opinion, demonstrated so much of what I believe to be wrong in government, particularly at the local level. There were many … Continue reading

Lakewood TIF Plan Draws Opposition from Serwatka

The Lakewood Village Board is meeting tonight at 7 PM at the village’s RedTail Golf Clubhouse. One of the items that will be on both the Woodstock District 200 School Board meeting agenda and on Lakewood’s is a measure to … Continue reading

Susan Handelsman Criticizes Proposed TIF Agreement between Lakewood & D200

Susan Handelsman, the woman who brought the issue of Woodstock School District taxpayers being forced to subsidize children living in future low cost housing in Lakewood’s Tax Increment Financing District near Routes 47 and 176, has penned a critique of … Continue reading

D200’s John Guanci Weighs In on Lakewood TIF

The number of people worried about Lakewood’s Tax Increment Financing District’s having a negative impact on their school taxes has increased by two in the last day. At least the number communicating to me. Last night my wife and I … Continue reading

Lakewood TIF Timeline

Rural Woodstock resident Susan Handelsman offer the following summary of Lakewood’s Tax Increment Financing District: Lakewood TIF Timeline: 1.Late 2014-Early 2015; Lakewood announced plans for, and voted into existence, a 600+ acre tif district which would include a Sportsplex on … Continue reading

Woodstock School Board Could Consider Lakewood TIF Tonight

From Voters in Action: There is a D200 School Board meeting tonight and it was suggested that I forward  the “Expected Return Analysis” to you along with these points. Failure to act could result in additional increased property taxes for the next 35 … Continue reading

Tirio Calls for Citizens to Pressure Woodstock School Board on Lakewood TIF District

This entered by inbox Friday night: Fellow Citizen, Apologies for the short notice, but timing is truly critical. Failure to act could result in an increase in your property taxes for the 35 years. BULLET POINTS: D200’s lawyers were asked … Continue reading

Susan Handelsman Reacts to D200-Lakewood TIF Meeting

From Susan Handelsman, the woman who started the Woodstock School District 200 opposition to the Lakewood Tax Increment Financing District: Lakewood TIF Litigation Evidently the Chairwoman of school district 200 board [Camille Goodwiin] has unilaterally decided to negotiate with Lakewood, … Continue reading

Erin Smith Reports on TIF Meeting with Woodstock School District

I asked both Lakewood and District 200 what happened at the December 22nd meeting about the Lakewood Tax Increment Financing District. Here’s how Lakewood Village President Erin Smith replied: We had a good first meeting with D200, but it was … Continue reading

D200 Delays Lakewood TIF Suit…for Now

Woodstock District 200’s School Board decided to delay making a decision on whether to sue the Village of Lakewood in an attempt to invalidate its Tax Increment Financing District until December 30th. The reason was that agreement had been reached … Continue reading

Woodstock Schools Aiming Lawyers at Lakewood TIF

Tonight at 7, the Woodstock School District will consider a resolution to sue the Village of Lakewood over its the Tax Increment Financing District that the Village Board passed eleven months ago.  (Map showing where meeting will be held here.) … Continue reading

Woodstock School District Looking at Suing Lakewood over TIF District

Lakewood’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District is on the agenda of the Woodstock School District Tuesday. Here’s the posting: Approval of Resolution Authorizing Lawsuit against the Village of Lakewood Seeking Dissolution of the Illinois Route 47 and Illinois Route 176 … Continue reading

Nancy Zettler Running for Tryon’s Seat

At Allen Skillicorn’s Crystal Lake petition pizza party, I learned that District 300 activist Nancy Zettler and attorney with an office in Algonquin is running for State Representative. The Democrat seeks to replace Crystal Lake’s Mike Tryon who is retiring. … Continue reading

Lakewood Hot Button Issues Update

Been wondering what’s up with the proposed Lakewood SportsPlex, the Tax Increment Financing District and the restaurant which the Village announced it wanted to replace the current lakefront Village Hall. I filed a Freedom of Information request a couple of … Continue reading

Another CL TIF Failure – Crosswalks This Time

The Virginia Street Tax Increment Financing District is a public expenditure that keeps on giving feed stock for stories. First it was the absurd waste of money for four pillars to mark the edges of the district which provides the … Continue reading