Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Who taps TIFs? Put it online
Copyright by the Chicago Sun-Times
April 22, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1537935,CST-EDT-edit22b.article
Good government fans could score a small but important victory today if the Chicago City Council approves a modest measure to shine some light on a dark corner of Mayor Daley's spending.
We're talking about a proposal by Aldermen Manny Flores (1st) and Scott Waguespack (32nd) to make information about the city's tax-increment financing districts accessible by putting all of it in one spot online.
At first glance, this may appear a tad dull, but here are a few facts to spice up your interest:
As we've said before, TIFs are essentially Mayor Daley's private piggy bank.
TIF districts let the mayor use hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax money that would normally have gone to schools, parks and other government agencies on projects he would like done in the city, with virtually no oversight.
Much of the information about TIFs -- who gets the money, under what conditions, for which projects -- is online or accessible by filing a Freedom of Information request with the city, but it's not exactly easy to come by, unless you've got a lot of time on your hands.
That's why the proposal by the two aldermen provides a nifty fix -- by mandating the city put all the information in one handy spot on its Web site by July.
Now we know, come summer, most Chicago residents are not going to rush online to check this stuff out. But if they ever have the itch to see where the mayor is spending hundreds of millions of their tax dollars, they can.
That's what transparent government is all about.
And that's why we urge aldermen to pass the measure today.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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