City Council postponed votes on two major agenda items during its Monday night meeting, including a resolution regarding the city’s five Tax Increment Financing districts and two pieces of legislation that would provide opposing solutions to currently unregulated sweepstakes machines.
Here are two key takeaways from the meeting:
1. School district concerns spark TIF district debate
After lengthy discussions, Council decided to seek input from the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School District 202 boards about two TIF districts.
TIF districts attempt to stimulate economic development by capturing the growth in property tax revenue within a particular area. As Evanston makes developments in each district, causing property values to rise, the city redirects the captured taxes back into the district to fund “infrastructure improvements, workforce development and property revitalization,” according to the city’s website.
A proposed resolution, which was tabled at the May 26 Council meeting, would terminate both the Dempster Dodge and Chicago Main districts ahead of their scheduled dates of 2036 and 2037, respectively.
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) echoed arguments from the previous meeting, opposing the total termination of the Chicago Main district, which includes part of the 4th Ward. In May, he said TIF funds could be used for projects like the Chicago Avenue Multimodal Corridor Improvements.
“This also assumes that the 10 million-plus federal grant that we have been awarded for the Chicago Avenue corridor project actually materializes,” Nieuwsma said. “I don’t think anybody at this point can guarantee that funding will indeed materialize from the current federal administration.”
Nieuwsma instead proposed a reconsideration of the early termination in 2030.
Other councilmembers supported the early terminations, arguing terminating the districts would release significant property tax revenue to Districts 65 and 202.
“We expected some indication from D65, but we’ve also received indication from D202 that they would like us to close these TIFs,” said Ald. Parielle Davis (7th).
Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) noted that indication from District 202 was a letter signed by board member John Martin, according to reporting from the Evanston RoundTable.
After several suggestions, including convening a full Council meeting alongside the Districts 65 and 202 school boards, Ald. Tom Suffredin (6th) crystallized the debate, expressing concern about voting after considering so many edits.
“I think we’re having pretty substantive discussions, and we’re making pretty big changes on the night that we’re voting on it,” Suffredin said. “That’s probably not how something like this should be.”
Council ultimately voted to refer the item to the City-School Liaison Committee and then return it to the Finance and Budget Committee before another vote. Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th), Finance and Budget Committee chair, said he would formally invite the districts’ school board members to his committee’s meeting.
2. Council tables opposing sweepstakes machine proposals
Earlier in the meeting, two pieces of legislation that would decide the fate of sweepstakes machines in Evanston were tabled for community input.
The first proposal would regulate the machines, while the second would prohibit them entirely.
Nieuwsma said he would support the second bill to ban sweepstakes machines outright. Geracaris and Rodgers, whose wards both have businesses with sweepstakes machines, vocally supported regulation.
“In talking to the small business owners, they’re looking for additional revenue streams. They seemed open to being taxed and regulated,” Geracaris said. “If we do, for some reason, wish not to regulate and instead prohibit, I would urge my colleagues to perhaps rethink our ban on video gambling.”
Rodgers said he would also support rethinking the city’s ban on video gambling, which was passed in 2009, if sweepstakes machines were prohibited.
Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) said she needed to “survey residents and businesses” before a vote. The proposed ordinances were then tabled until Council’s July 13 meeting.
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