The Aurora City Council Tuesday night approved several resolutions amending Tax Increment Financing District 7 on the city’s far East Side.
All four resolutions passed 11-1, with Ald. John Laesch, at large, the lone vote against the measures.
The amendments are in preparation for creating the Farnsworth-Bilter Tax Increment Financing District, a new TIF district being created for the Hollywood Casino-Aurora resort development at Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road.
The amendments approved this week took parcels out of Tax Increment Financing District 7 to put them into the new Farnsworth-Bilter TIF District.
Aldermen have scheduled a vote on establishing the Farnsworth-Bilter TIF District for the regular Jan. 23 City Council meeting.
The votes taken this week to amend TIF District 7 not only took the parcels out and amended the map for the district, they also amended the redevelopment project area plan and project.
The district runs from Farnsworth Avenue through a corporate park along Interstate 88 to Mitchell Road.
The new Farnsworth-Bilter TIF District was contemplated as part of a redevelopment agreement between the city and Penn Entertainment approved by the City Council on Oct. 26, 2022.
Penn Entertainment plans to build a $360 million casino resort, and the city, as an incentive to the company, agreed to pay $50 million toward the project upfront. The money would come from a bond issue, which would be paid back by proceeds from the TIF district increment.
City officials have estimated the increment, once the entire resort is built, would generate upwards of $5.5 million a year that would go toward the bond service – meaning the payment and the interest.
If the district does not generate enough to cover the bonds, Penn Entertainment has agreed to make up the difference and pay the debt service.
Some 10% of the increment would be declared surplus each year and distributed to all the other taxing bodies, due to an agreement between the city and the Batavia School District. Any other money collected in the increment could go toward infrastructure costs related to the development, such as water and sewer and road improvements.
The increment is the money collected above the original tax collected on the property before the TIF district is established.
