Six South Side TIF districts that end Dec. 31 would run to 2038 under ordinances on Monday's Finance agenda. Each depends on a state bill

The amendments were filed Thursday and would add 12 years to districts created in 2002, in 13 wards. The same agenda has up to $500 million in sewer bonds.

By Chicago PoliticsUpdated Nov 13, 2026

The Finance Committee's agenda for Monday at 10 a.m. includes six ordinances, filed Thursday, that would extend six South Side tax increment financing districts by 12 years (agenda, meeting page). Each district was created in 2002 and, under current state law, ends Dec. 31, 2026.

Why it matters: while a TIF runs, property tax growth inside it goes to the TIF fund instead of to CPS, the City, Cook County and other taxing bodies. Extending these six keeps that money in the districts until the end of 2038. And none of the six extensions can take effect unless Springfield changes the law first.

The six districts

All are department-filed amendments introduced directly to the committee, per the agenda:

119th and Halsted, 9th and 21st wards, created Feb. 6, 2002 (O2026-0030101)
119th/I-57, 19th and 21st wards, Nov. 6, 2002 (O2026-0030095)
47th/Ashland, 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th and 20th wards, March 27, 2002 (O2026-0030100)
47th/Halsted, 3rd, 11th, 15th, 16th and 20th wards, May 29, 2002 (O2026-0030098)
47th/King Drive, 3rd, 4th and 20th wards, March 27, 2002 (O2026-0030096)
87th/Cottage Grove, 5th, 6th and 8th wards, Nov. 13, 2002 (O2026-0030093)

What the ordinances do

We read the ordinance text filed with each. Each replaces "23 years" with "35 years" in the district's plan, moving the date by which its projects must be finished and its debts retired to Dec. 31, 2038.

Each also says the City "anticipates that the Illinois General Assembly may adopt a bill" changing those dates for these areas, and that the ordinance takes effect only once "the Bill becoming law" and the ordinance passing have both happened. The ordinances don't name the bill, and we haven't identified it. The General Assembly's veto session runs Nov. 17 to 19 and Dec. 1 to 3, per the Illinois Municipal League. Extending a TIF past 23 years takes an act of the legislature.

How this has gone before

In the 2025 budget, the Council let 13 districts expire and extended eight by 12 years, the Chicago Tribune reported (via Yahoo News). The Tribune estimated that districts expiring would add more than $100 million in property tax revenue for CPS from 2026 to 2030, money that, unlike a one-time surplus, recurs. Extending districts delays that.

Also Monday: sewer bonds

Item one is up to $500 million in Second Lien Wastewater Transmission Revenue Bonds, for projects and refinancing (O2026-0029409). The agenda calls it the Series 2027; the record's title says Series 2026. These bonds are repaid from sewer charges.

The Council's last two wastewater bond votes split differently: the Series 2024 bonds passed 50 to 0 in January 2024 (SO2023-0006398), and the Series 2024B bonds passed 44 to 4 that October, with Beale (9th), Lopez (15th), Cardona (31st) and Waguespack (32nd) voting no (O2024-0012441).

How each ward voted

43 yea, 4 nay, 1 absent · Oct 9, 2024 · Passed

Yea Nay Absent

O2024-0012441: the roll call, the timeline and the documents

What our records add

TIF money is already central to the budget fight. The Mayor's 2027 plan counts on declaring about $520 million in TIF surplus, with $285 million for CPS (our story). The ordinances' filings don't say how much money each of the six districts holds or collects; the City's annual TIF reports do, and we'll add those figures.

What's next

Written comments on Monday's agenda closed at 10 a.m. today. If the committee approves the extensions, the earliest full Council vote is Dec. 8, three weeks before the districts end.

Sources: Committee on Finance: notice, Nov. 16, 2026.