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District 304 Fights $460K Reduction in Geneva on the Dam's Tax Assessment
If the appeal is successful, the district and other GenevaTownship taxing agencies might have to dish out $41,800 in property tax refunds.
As the value of property in downtown Geneva continues to drop, some property owners are appealing their tax assessments, resulting in fewer dollars for local taxing bodies.
That's the case with Geneva on the Dam, which is requesting a $460,000 reduction in its property tax assessment for 2010.
On Monday night, School District 304 joined other Geneva Township taxing bodies by passing a resolution authorizing an "intervention: in the 2010 Geneva on the Dam Building Associates’ appeal.
According to School District 304's "For the Record" e-mail blast, "the appeal exposes the district and other Geneva Township taxing agencies to approximately $41,800 in property tax refunds."
Geneva developer Kent Shodeen filed for the reduction along with Geneva on the Dam Building Associates, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune's Trib Local.
According to Showcase.com, there is more than 9,000 square feet of available space in the Geneva on the Dam property. The lease price ranges from $14 a square foot to $17 a square foot.
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Rod Nelson
6:21 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
Sigh...
Many years ago I argued against the creation of a TIFF district along Geneva's "blighted" river front. The Tiff district basically took the tax dollars that belonged to the schools, parks, library, and township and gave them to the City to spend on infrastructure, thus subsidizing the private developer. The theory was that "eventually" the increased value of the re-developed property would reward the patient taxing bodies that do not have the City's revenue stream from sales tax, permits, electric, water, sewer, etc. The City likes to boast that they have nor increased property taxes much. But they do not have to, they just raise their utilitiy rates and fees, plus they get the sales tax dollars from the re-development while the other taxing bodies get a deferred promise of revenue.
Unfortunately the taxpayer subsidized riverfront re-development has not been very successful. Hence the "appeal" of the assessed evaluation, which given the vacancies, is likely to be successful. Ironically, simply taking the decaying old Howell foundry off the tax rolls by making it into a public open space on the River may have been the best course. This may have resulted in sufficient inhancement in the attractiveness of and thereby assessed valuation of the adjoining and nearby commercial properties to result in a net gain for all the taxing bodies through both sales tax and property tax revenue.
Rod Nelson
Donna Mead
7:58 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
I've watched two major TIFF districts, (downtown Palatine & downtown Rolling Meadows) neither have delivered as promised. Some touted public dollar investments in Batavia have fallen flat in what appears to be record time. The costly mistakes are almost laughable, except that they are made with 'other people's money' - your money. These public monies for private profit, TIFF programs, usually to drive more tax revenues, just don't seem to pan out.
If Demand was truly there for these developments, the private sector would have stepped up without using public funding - and been a lot more careful with how their personal dollars were allocated.