By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington aldermen heard pleas from District 87’s superintendent Tuesday night to minimize the impact tax increment financing has on the school district.

The council is considering putting in writing a set of policies determining when the city offers TIFS as an incentive for developers to build on blighted property or areas that have diminishing land values. Aldermen tabled the proposal until next month.

Superintendent Barry Reilly said proposed policies lack teeth. He reminded aldermen the school system doesn’t collect sales taxes, and it can’t take advantage of rising assessed land values during the TIF’s lifespan. Taxes from increased land values are rebated to the developer during that time.

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“Remember, you can choose to do less than 100 percent of the increment from District 87. You don’t have to do that,” Reilly said to the council.

“Those are the kinds of things we would encourage you to think about because it just seems as though it’s all in, and we’re saying let’s look at ways to lessen the impact,” Reilly said.

Alderman Amelia Buragas said she’s excited about the collaboration between the two large taxing bodies, but she said it’s too soon to vote on the TIF guidelines.

“We should give this more time to work with the school district, and also any taxing bodies who want to provide comments to us, so that we can continue to move towards consensus. We’re getting pretty close, I think,” said Buragas.

Aldermen tabled the resolution for more discussion next month, and to examine a proposal to include in TIF agreements a requirement that developers hire local union workers to build their projects.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]