Polsky & Associates, Ltd. | 2011 Chicago TIF Study

Research Methodology

The base EAV data and annual EAV data for the years 2004 through 2009 were compiled for all TIF Districts in the City of Chicago. The base EAV data and the annual EAV data were obtained from the Cook County Clerk’s Office. The City of Chicago’s annual EAV data for each year between 2004 and 2009 and TIF EAV data for years 2006 through 2009 are available on the Cook County Clerk’s website. 2 For this analysis, the City’s EAV data has been adjusted to exclude all parcels in the City located within a TIF District during that year. We met with the Cook County Clerk’s Office of Real Estate and Tax Services to obtain TIF District EAV data for the years 2004 and 2005.

Based on information available on the City of Chicago TIF website, 3 138 TIF Districts existed in the City at the end of 2004, 140 TIF Districts at the end of 2005, 147 TIF Districts at the end of 2006, 157 TIF Districts at the end of 2007, 155 TIF Districts at the end of 2008 and 160 TIF Districts at the end of 2009. We analyzed the amount of incremental EAV generated in each TIF District beginning upon the creation of that TIF District and terminating at the end of 2009 and compared the amount of incremental EAV generated in each TIF District to the base EAV of that TIF District. We excluded 5 outlier districts from this portion of the analysis to avoid unduly weighting the results because these Districts had incremental EAV growth rates greater than 5,000%. 4 We also excluded 3 TIF Districts from this portion of the analysis because the Annual Reports indicated that these 3 TIF Districts had a base EAV of $0. 5 Two TIF Districts were excluded throughout our analysis because of a lack of base EAV or annual EAV information. 6

For the portion of this analysis in which we examined the years 2004 through 2009, we excluded 3 TIF Districts in 2004, 4 TIF Districts in 2005, 9 TIF Districts in 2006, 2 TIF Districts in 2007, 2 TIF Districts in 2008 and 2 TIF Districts in 2009 because of missing data. 7 Additionally, 7 TIF Districts were excluded from the 2008 data because the Districts terminated in that year. 8 We further eliminated from our data set 1 TIF District for the 2004-2005 period, 2 TIF Districts for the 2006-2007 period and 1 TIF District for the 2007-2008 period because we determined that these TIF Districts were outliers as they each exhibited EAV growth rates higher than 350% during those periods. 9 However, these outlier districts were included in our research during other year-over-year periods because their EAV growth rates were lower than 350%.

We analyzed the EAV growth of TIF Districts on a citywide basis and on a regional basis. TIF Districts were divided into regions based on the divisions established by the City of Chicago as presented on the City of Chicago’s TIF website.

This research is limited to public information available on the internet and from the Cook County Clerk’s Office of Real Estate and Tax Services. We did not confirm the accuracy of any of the information with any other source.