On October 10th, 2012, the City of Chicago released its 2013 proposed $8.3 billion budget. The City projected a $298 million deficit and proposed several measures to close the funding gap, including personnel savings, spending reform and long-term debt refinance.
The budget also proposed using TIF funds to reduce the 2013 deficit. Approximately $10 million in TIF funds will be distributed to the City, comprised of $6.7 million in released surplus from existing TIF districts and $3.3 million from expired and terminated TIF districts. In 2012, about $12 million in TIF surplus funds were distributed to the City to aid in reducing the City’s $635 million budget deficit and in 2011, approximately $38 million in TIF surplus funds were used to help fill a $655 million spending gap.
The City anticipates that TIF dollars to be collected in 2013 will decrease to approximately $332 million, which represents an approximately 27% reduction from the $454 million collected in 2012.