McHenry County Blog

A friend of the blog from Richmond sent me this update on Thursday night's village board meeting.

It seems the citizen uprising was successful.

Here's the email:

Richmond TIF Dismissed unanaimously

Lauri Olson-Yes, due to public opinion. Sent strong message to those who opposed TIF that they better have some plans for what to do because the Village's general fund has been reduced by half and they have a loan to pay off, sounded like they thought they were going to use the TIF money to refill the Villages coffers.

It reminded me of some of the Republican sentiment about the war and the Democrats and that Ok well you got yourselves elected now you figure out what to do about this war.

Charles Schultz-Yes but has ideas for grants and funding, found a 50/50 sidewalk grant program to which Ms. Olson chimed in "we don't have the 50."

Cindy Walleck-Yes and is not too interested in Mr. Schultz's TIF alternatives tonight either.

Dan Deters-Yes and I was never really convinced about the TIF any way.

Dennis Bardy-Yes and I wish people would stop criticizing me for choosing TIF in the first place instead of investigating anything else.

Bruce Hunter can't vote; he has property in the TIF.

Roy Wulffen absent, he's absent a lot, I guess his heart just isn't in this anymore.

The ordinance was written in such a way that this TIF cannot be revived before its expiration date, the Village attorney made a big deal about having to spend the money again for a study and all that if they every wanted to do it again.

I've read a couple of those studies. The consultants basically fill in the blanks to fulfill the state statutes. You can read the study with the state TIF law in the other hand and follow the statutes requirements right down through the study.

I think if they wanted to be reasonable about it they could do themselves.

If nothing else they should have a better idea of how to handle the public. Initially they relied on blind trus. Ms. Olson's response to concerns about TIF was often just what are you afraid of.

Boy, I wish I had folks like this friend of the blog who would update me on other meetings.

Labels: Bruce Hunter, Charles Schultz, Dan Deters, Dennis Bardy, Lauri Olson, Richmond, Roy Wulffen, Tax Increment Financing District, TIF