Village of Bradley TIF Scam

BBCHS To Give A Wink And A Nod To Bradley Mayor Kent's Latest TIF District Scam. Homeowners And Long-Time Businesses To Get The Shaft!

Mayor Kent has announced the Village of Bradley is in the process of creating yet another TIF district. It will be along Route 50. It is a 75- acre tract that could include the purchase and redevelopment of the Belson Steel location and the demolition of 15 homes in the Cedar Lane subdivision. Indications from BBCHS Superintendent Mike Hogan is that BBCHS will once again give Mayor Kent a wink and a nod in favor of this TIF proposal, as they have done in the past with previous TIF districts. BBCHS has a history of looking the other way while the Villages of Bradley and Bourbonnais divert millions of dollars in property taxes away from them back to commercial developers, thereby putting the full cost burden of schools and local government on homeowners and long time businesses in the area.

This proposed TIF is even worse then the other ones. It will tear down existing improvements, thereby reducing the assessed valuation. Under the Tax Cap Law, the rest of the existing assessed valuation, homeowners and businesses outside of a TIF district, will be taxed to make up the lost plus the CPI increase. This affects everyone in the County. Example: All property owners in the County such as those in Momence, St. Anne, Grant Park, Herscher, etc., pay property taxes to Kankakee County and KCC. They have to make up the dollars in property tax revenue Kankakee County and KCC will lose every time a TIF district is created in Bradley, Bourbonnais or any place in the County. The hardest hit will be property owners in Bourbonnais Township, because of the hit their school districts are taking on these TIF district deals, especially school district debt service payments.

The TIF district law was created to help bring development to blighted areas that would otherwise not get developed. Here is what Mayor Kent said about his latest TIF scam. "Anything along Route 50 is commercially very valuable." Does this sound like a blighted area to you? Clearly what Kent is doing is in violation of the intent of the TIF district law. This is not his first time. His other recently created TIF district at Route 50 and St. George Road was clearly not a blighted area. All the retailers building there, along with those who build in this new proposed TIF district, will not be paying any property taxes to schools and other local government for up to 23 years. Yes, that's right 23-years! This is why there are so many empty buildings in the non-TIF district areas of Bradley. Businesses have to move to A TIF district to get the 23-year tax breaks to compete or go out of business. K's Merchandise is a good example. Another example is the Northfield Square Mall. After all these years, it is still half-empty and it is seeing retailers move out of the mall into a TIF district.

Bourbonnais Elementary will also see millions of dollars in property taxes diverted from it back to commercial developers. They tried in the past, when the Route 50 and St. George Road TIF district was proposed, to get BBCHS to join them in a lawsuit to stop Mayor Kent from violating the TIF district law. BBCHS declined and instead chose to play politics with Kent by giving its OK.. Why is kissing Kent's butt more important then BBCHS students and the existing businesses and homeowners who pay taxes to support BBCHS? Why is BBCHS Superintendent Hogan so scared to stand up to Mayor Kent? At this point, I would think he would find the courage to stand up and be counted since he has lost two referendum attempts which would have forced a huge tax increase on to existing homeowners and businesses. Apparently he is not a strong leader. It is time for Mr. Hogan to step down as BBCHS Superintendent. It is time to hire a Superintendent who will not put politics first and instead put students, homeowners and long-time businesses first. Other school districts around the state are going to court over TIF districts and winning, but not BBCHS. Instead, BBCHS is planning to put another referendum on the ballot demanding more money from long-time businesses in the area and existing homeowner.

For additional articles on TIF districts read the article below and click on these links, TIF Districts Stiff Taxpayers, TIF Districts Hurt, Friends of BBCHS Receive Kick Back From Developer Getting TIF District Tax Break.

For information on BBCHS property tax history click here BBCHS Tax Levy History. For BBCHS Teacher and Administrators' salary schedule click here BBCHS Salary Schedule.

The proposed Bradley TIF district is nothing more then a scheme to let new retail development off the hook of paying basic property taxes to local taxing bodies for up to 23 years by pretending the Route 50 and St. George Road area is a blighted area.

This will force all the cost of residential growth, such as new schools on current homeowners. Does anyone really believe the Route 50 area is blighted and without tax giveaways there will be no new commercial retail development in that area? It is true BBCHS has agreed to the blight scam. BBCHS thinks current homeowners will make up what they are going to lose from this deal through tax increase referendums they are planning. Homeowners in the area are not that stupid.

Retailers want to be here because of the residential growth. They want to be in this market so they can profit from a growing population but at the same time the Village of Bradley is about to let them off the hook of paying any of the costs of growth. Not even requiring them to pay basic property taxes to schools and other taxing bodies in the area. Those who are profiting from growth should share in the costs of growth!

We already have some of the highest property taxes on homeowners. This move by the Village of Bradley will only make things a lot worse in the coming years. This will force many long time homeowners out of their homes.

We applaud Bourbonnais Elementary School District’s threat of legal action against the creation of this TIF district because under the TIF law corn fields cannot be called a blighted area.

This is 2006. This kind of non-sense has to stop. The village of Bradley is living in the past. The 1980’s are over. It is about 25 years since Roper and A.O. Smith left the area. The time has long since passed where the need for these kinds of deals for retail development are needed. Residents in this area are no-longer going to tolerate having the entire tax burden for growth put on them by the Village of Bradley or the Village of Bourbonnais.