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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

By declaring larger and larger surpluses, city leaders have been able to use this obscure development tool as a back-door loophole to raise hundreds of millions for everyday operating costs. Read our full story: illinoisanswers.org/2026/10/01/t...

illinoisanswers.org

A ‘Backdoor Loophole’ is Pushing Up Property Taxes With Little Accountability

An obscure financing tool is quietly raising property taxes to pay for a growing range of spending, an Illinois Answers Project and Mansueto Institute analysis found.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

TIFs reduce the taxable value available for local governments to levy on, which pushes rates higher. We worked with @miurbanchicago.bsky.social to develop a tool that lets you look up how much: tifexplainer.miurban-dashboards.org Data is based on @cookcountyassessor.bsky.social's PTAX simulator.

tifexplainer.miurban-dashboards.org

How TIFs affect your property tax bill

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

TIF districts capture property tax growth and use the $$ for construction — ideally in "blighted" neighborhoods with little other development. Folks tend to assume this means less money going to schools + other govts. It actually raises your taxes.

A screenshot of text saying the following:
"Through tax-increment financing, or TIF, local governments in Illinois create geographic districts that divert property tax growth into special funds that can be tapped to help pay for construction. While TIF’s fiscal impact has been limited through most of its 40-year history, the tool has become an increasingly major contributor to the region’s runaway growth in property taxes in recent years, according to a joint analysis by Illinois Answers Project and the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation.

In fact, TIFs last year accounted for $262 on the average tax bill for Cook County homeowners — regardless of whether they live inside one of the special districts, the analysis found. The average homeowner in Chicago, where TIFs take in a much higher proportion of tax revenues, paid nearly $368 of their tax bill because of the districts."

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Tax-increment financing is opaque and complicated, arguably by design. So last year, we had an idea: what if we could show the actual impact of TIFs on all of our tax bills? Today, we've published the result: 🧵

A graphic saying, "If No TIFs Existed, Your Tax Bill Could be $1,130 Lower"

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Many ask: why do mayors want data centers so badly? They pay tons in property taxes without generating truck traffic. Even after receiving breaks, the 18 DCs in our analysis are paying $71M in property taxes this year — more than most industrial users. t.co/xuLYatrlTm

t.co

https://illinoisanswers.org/2026/08/23/data-centers-near-ohare-win-nearly-100m-in-local-tax-breaks/

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

We found county reductions knocked ~$2B off the taxable value of ORD-area data centers. 2 main drivers: 💸 Incentives pushed by mayors who feared the DCs would otherwise go elsewhere 💸 Appeals from DC companies arguing the buildings should be taxed like like plain ol' warehouses

illinoisanswers.org

Data Centers Near O’Hare Win Nearly $100M in Local Tax Breaks, Leaving Suburban Homeowners to Cover the Gap

Northwest suburban data centers had nearly $2 billion knocked off their taxable property values, an analysis shows.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

We've been working on this dive into Chicago's tree planting record for the better part of a year. Worth your time today!

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Casey Toner @ctoner.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

@maggiedough.bsky.social and I sat down with more than a dozen compulsive gamblers in recovery about let them speak at length about their own lives. It is at turns sad, frightening, infuriating, occasionally funny and painfully human 🧵 illinoisanswers.org/2026/06/24/w...

illinoisanswers.org

What Compulsive Gamblers Know

The hopes, dreams and tragedies of people who can't stop betting

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

HB5198 passed the House last month and has picked up some powerful sponsors in the Senate, but it has yet to clear a committee vote in that chamber as time runs out on the session. Read our full story here: illinoisanswers.org/2026/05/27/p... (7/7)

illinoisanswers.org

A Proposed Law Would Push Wealthy Suburbs to Build More Affordable Housing. Mayors Are Pushing Back.

The effort to sharpen a state law is one of several Springfield bills that aim to boost housing construction and widen affordability.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Many suburban mayors are opposed. Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso told me his constituents need to be able to "say what they want and don’t want in their communities — that’s why they moved here.” The average home in Burr Ridge costs $700K+. (6/7)

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

HB5198 would both widen and sharpen AHPAA by: 1) Raising the affordability threshold to 25%, ~doubling the number of towns where it applies 2) Specifying requirements for action plans 3) Making it easier to file an appeal against housing restrictions in non-compliant towns (5/7)

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

In towns under the 10% affordability threshold, developers can appeal to a state-appointed board to bypass local opposition to new housing. Since 2003, this appeal process has been triggered 0️⃣ times. (4/7)

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Low-affordability towns have to submit plans to the state every 5 years explaining how they'll add more options. Many ignore this requirement altogether — others submit vague plans with little accountability. You can see each town's submission here: www.ihda.org/about-ihda/a... (3/7)

ihda.org

Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act (AHPAA) – IHDA

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Since 2003, the Affordable Housing Planning & Appeal Act (AHPAA) has called on state housing officials to catalog the municipalities where less than 10% of homes are deemed affordable. Here's a handy map of the 44 towns where that's the case: ihda.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant... (2/7)

ihda.maps.arcgis.com

Interactive Legend

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

New from me: an under-the-radar bill pending in Springfield would beef up rules designed to push wealthy Illinois suburbs to allow more affordable housing. Here's what HB5198 would do, and where it stands: (1/7)

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Damn. Definitely never heard the head of a sister agency speak this way about a sitting mayor: (Context from Justin at @crainschicago.bsky.social www.chicagobusiness.com/politics-pol...)

A screenshot of an email that says:

Statement from CHA Operating Chairman Matthew Brewer regarding Mayor Johnson’s comments on the appointment of CEO Keith Pettigrew:

We followed the law, we followed the process, and seven of ten Commissioners approved the appointment of CEO Keith Pettigrew in an open meeting. The Mayor may disagree with the outcome, but rewriting the facts doesn’t change them and mischaracterizing the law does not change the actual law.

The CEO search process began in November 2024 and consisted of an outside firm conducting a search to identify the best talent in Chicago and across the nation. CHA Board members, resident leadership, and the Mayor’s office agreed to this process from the outset and even interviewed Mr. Pettigrew. Now, the Mayor is attempting to unilaterally disregard the process and put politics and cronies over the best interests of our CHA residents, and they deserve better.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

New: Chicago officials have for years resisted calls to mandate proactive apartment safety inspections, even as renters keep dying in preventable fires. The City Council just passed an ordinance directing departments to study the idea in earnest. illinoisanswers.org/2026/03/18/p...

illinoisanswers.org

Proactive building inspections one step closer to reality in Chicago — but questions of funding and logistics remain

Chicago took a step toward beefing up its safety oversight of apartment buildings on Wednesday following years of criticism that the city’s patchwork of reactive building inspections has cost the […]

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Anecdotal evidence abounds to support these programs. No allegations of waste or fraud. But the city's impulse to hide from Qs like "what's your evidence for sustaining youth employment" is feeding its trust deficit w/ City Council as they strain to pass a budget by 12/31. /END

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Budget officials said they conducted a "sustainability analysis" for whether each ARPA-funded program should be preserved. So we FOIA'd for that analysis. After more than a month of delays, they finally delivered last night, and almost every page looks like this:

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Still, alders say the administration hasn't provided enough info on these programs to justify keeping them in such a tough budget. City budget office has an ARPA "Impact Dashboard," but KPIs are spotty, and it's unclear which orgs have received many grants. t.co/ZG487WcS3i

A screenshot of a spreadsheet showing some cells blank under "KPI value."

A screenshot of part of a spreadsheet showing "N/A" listed under "Applicant Organization" for Chicago's emergency fund for gender-based violence survivors, one of its previously ARPA-funded programs.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Johnson admin argues these programs are working & deserve to stay. Axing them would trim less than 3% of the budget deficit. And it's easier to say "cut ARPA programs" than it is to argue, say, "cut resources for domestic violence survivors."

A block of text that reads:
The programs “are yielding results,” Johnson’s chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, said in an interview after Johnson’s Oct. 16 budget address.

Spending on mental health and youth employment have shown they can provide “what Chicagoans should have as entitlement, and that is safe communities. That is access to comprehensive health care. That is young people having opportunities to explore their career pathways and passions,” Pacione-Zayas said. “All of those are reasonable investments. In fact, I would argue they’re baseline investments.”

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

The proposed spending includes: 💵$7M to preserve 62 employee positions, mostly for mental health emergency responders 💵 $10.6B for One Summer Chicago & other youth programing 💵 $5.5M for DV programming (incl some restored post- original proposal) 💵 $5.1M for homelessness

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

New from me: budget hawks have called on @chicagosmayor.bsky.social to cut ARPA-funded programs before considering any new taxes. But it's been hard to nail down the exact price tag of federal programs the mayor wants to keep. After six weeks of reporting, we found the number: about $33M.

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Northwestern and Columbia being famous for journalism and bending over for Trump seems a little too on the nose these days

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Must-read @skpineda.bsky.social on how a U-turn in federal housing policy is about to make it much harder for Chicago and other cities to fight homelessness:

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Daniel Kay Hertz @danielkayhertz.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

So not only does the massive transit package passed last night fill the funding gap, it *boosts* ops funding by roughly the size of the gap, eliminates parking minimums within a half mile of rail stations, and gives the new regional transit board sweeping powers to do public development

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Tune into @wbez.org at 9 a.m. to hear me do my best to recap the whirlwind veto session that landed a $1.5 billion transit package on the governor's desk: www.wbez.org I'm not in Springfield, but I did get a full night of sleep last night!

wbez.org

WBEZ Chicago - WBEZ Chicago

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Watch the live House committee debate, with Rep. Delgado answering questions about the bill: ilga.gov/House/AudioV... Read our story on the history and limitations of the RTA sales tax, which is being proposed for an increase: illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/l...

ilga.gov

Official government website of the Illinois General Assembly

Welcome to the Official government website of the Illinois General Assembly

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Crystal Paul @cplhouse.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

A loophole lets counties spend millions in transit taxes not on transit...but on jails & courts Now, to save Chicago transit from cuts, lawmakers want to use those funds. The idea met a fierce backlash. 📝 @gracehauck.bsky.social & @alexnitkin.bsky.social illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/l...

illinoisanswers.org

A Little-Known Legal Loophole Has Scrambled State Efforts to Save Transit Agencies From Financial Disaster

Suburban counties last year spent $83M in RTA sales taxes on jails and courts; they'll fight to keep the money as the state scrapes for cash.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

At a series of meetings last year, residents in the collar counties begged for better transit. Still, some leaders are opting to take even more money out of transportation in favor of law enforcement.

A screenshot of the following text in the article:

Pierog, the chairperson of the Kane County Board, defended county leaders’ recent decision to shift an even greater share of the county’s RTA sales tax money away from transportation in favor of its jail and courts.

“They had to take money from transportation to be able to support the needs for public safety,” Pierog said in an interview with Illinois Answers Project. “Since population has increased, the need for public safety has also increased.”

“Unfortunately, we all have to take an adjustment, a fiscal adjustment, until we can find other paths,” Pierog said.

As a result of the transition to spending more on public safety, the county has paused about 19 transportation-related projects, such as safety upgrades to an accident-prone intersection, Rickert said.

A screenshot of the following text in the article:

Also testifying was Maya Wade, a student at Elgin Community College in Kane County. Wade had to quit the job she loved as an optician at a small, family-owned business in Wheaton because there were “no feasible” public transit options, and she was spending half of her monthly budget on Ubers – upwards of $80 a day.

“From my perspective and experience, there’s not enough accessibility and transportation for students,” Wade, 31, told the committee.

Stories like Wade’s abounded during committee hearings held in the collar counties last year, according to Wennink of the Metropolitan Planning Council.

“We listened to hours of them, and literally everyone says they want more transit,” Wennink said. “But meanwhile, the money that is given to the counties for transit is not being used on transit. So there’s a disconnect there.”

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

These counties use some of the money to fund dial-a-ride transit services that have made life possible for people who in the suburbs who don't drive. illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/c... The programs have shown a path forward for suburban transit. But they have big shortcomings:

illinoisanswers.org

These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands of Residents

Fledgling dial-a-ride networks are filling gaps in public transit in the collar counties, but they struggle to meet demand.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

A proposal emerged this spring that would have clawed back the RTA tax dollars for use by a new regional transportation authority. County leaders fought back, saying it would deprive them of money they need for street resurfacing, cops and courts.

A screenshot of the following text in the article:
DuPage is the only county that spends its entire share of the tax on law enforcement. It taps other revenues to fund about $1.8 million annually for paratransit and $1.25 million in yearly spending on projects related to transit like sidewalk construction, county officials said.

“In every resident survey we do, we hear loud and clear residents’ No. 1 priority is public safety,” Conroy said. “If the state takes its revenue from us, there will be massive layoffs in the public safety sector, including the sheriff’s office, state’s attorney’s office, public defender and probation.”

During negotiations earlier this year about how to pull Chicago-area transit agencies from the brink of a fiscal cliff, a proposal emerged that would have redirected the collar counties’ shares of the RTA sales tax toward a sweeping new agency, dubbed the Northeast Illinois Transit Authority.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

The funding mismatch is allowed thanks to a 2008 state law that was negotiated, in part, by a DuPage County state legislator named Kirk Dillard. We talked to Dillard, who now chairs the RTA. He disavowed his role in the loophole being added.

A screenshot of the following text in the article:
The law raised the existing RTA sales tax to 1% in Cook County and 0.75% in the collar counties, in part to fund Pace’s administration of a regional paratransit system — but it allowed the collars to keep one-third of the revenues — as long as they spent the money on “public transportation services or facilities or to fund operating, capital, right-of-way, construction, and maintenance costs of other transportation purposes.”

The bill lacked the votes it needed to pass, according to Conroy — until three Republican legislators from DuPage County offered their support if three words were added before the spending limitations: “public safety and.”

One of those legislators was State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who is now chairman of the RTA.

“It probably was a political decision made by legislative leaders — not by me, I was just a rank-and-file member at the time,” Dillard said in an interview. “The counties had pressures, budgetary pressures."

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

The collars last year collected a combined $193M in @rtachicago.bsky.social sales taxes. They spent less than 2% of it on a loose web of fledgling transit services. The rest went to roadway engineering and — thanks to a legal loophole — law enforcement. datawrapper.dwcdn.net/RLcPS/7/

datawrapper.dwcdn.net

How collar counties spent RTA sales tax revenues in 2024

Some counties spend part of the money to operate dial-a-ride paratransit. The rest is predominantly used to pay for road infrastructure, jails and courthouses.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

As transit funding hangs in the balance in veto session this week, @gracehauck.bsky.social and I have a pair of stories looking at the stakes for a part of the state that's gotten relatively little attention: the collar counties. t.co/oswatwJcdQ

t.co

https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/legal-loophole-scrambled-state-efforts-to-plug-transit-agencies-funding/

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Huynh released this video of the encounter:

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

IL State Rep. Hoan Huynh says CBP agents surrounded his car and drew a gun on him on the Northwest Side of Chicago this morning

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Johnson's budget address touts the city's effort to seize and resell properties from derelict landlord Suzie B. Wilson. ICYMI, @ctoner and @mina_bloom_ found the city has fallen far behind its goals here: illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/15/h...

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Alders are eagerly awaiting a breakdown of how much money is being drawn from each TIF. (The rest of us are, too)

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Johnson Admin is proposing an unprecedented $1B surplus from TIF districts. About 52% of that will go to CPS and 24% will go to the City, per property tax allocations. City TIFs generated $1.36B in 2023.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

City employee headcount continues to decline under mayor's proposal, with 443 fewer full-time equivalent employees in '26 than '25. ARP funds, which must be spent by 12/31/26, to back eight city positions next year. (Reminder: City has not provided a list of ARP-funded employees)

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

.@chicagosmayor.bsky.social is proposing to use the revived business head tax (coined the Community Safety Surcharge) to bankroll a new Community Safety Fund. Lot of these programs were started, expanded and/or sustained through ARPA— looks like this is how the admin is looking to keep them going

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

In summary, a reality check: get ready for a long and painful budget season, because all the easy levers have already been pulled. There are not enough "cuts and efficiencies" that can close a $1.2B budget hole on their own without impairing/reducing city services.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

So can Chicago balance its books by trimming ARPA-funded programs it can no longer afford? The city might get some savings here, but not much, considering almost all the fed $$ replaced lost revenue during the pandemic or paid for grants and contracts that have already expired.

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Budget growth is hard to tame when ~90% of city employees have union-negotiated annual pay steps. Take @Chicago_Police , which lost headcount since 2019, but the dept's budget is still way up. Why? A generous contract extension signed by MBJ helps explain: t.co/fIFOawJ5vl

t.co

https://www.bettergov.org/2023/12/12/hidden-costs-proposed-fop-contract-contains-millions-in-raises-new-protections-from-discipline/

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Alex Nitkin @alexnitkin.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

So then why can't city departments right-size their staffing after they grew so much? Well, because...they didn't. Chicago's employee headcount has been mostly stable since 2015, and in 2025 the city actually budgeted for 500 *fewer* employees than it did in 2019.

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