Quote Originally Posted by Teo9969 View Post
Any building within the TIF district that has sold in the last 5-10 years (and there have been a lot of them), especially if it was owned by an entity for longer than a period of 15 years, has seen an incredible increase in taxable market value. This is likely one of the many things that the original planners of TIF didn't take into account when planning for TIF, and why there is all of the sudden 3x+ the original amount planned for.
They don't need to take that into account because there are other appropriate checks on this. Establishing a TIF district doesn't provide an endless pot of money for however long a city or county is able to keep the TIF district in place--the TIF district is tied to a specific project budget in a project plan and once that project budget has been expended, the TIF district ends even if it hasn't yet been 25 years. That budget is supposed to be based on the projected revenues the district will provide (though it can be less). Often governmental entities are optimistic with the projections, but the review committee and government body when adopting the project plan is supposed to assess the financial impact of the plan, including whether the budget and projected revenues are realistic.

Therefore, when buildings are sold and re-assessed resulting in higher taxes, the TIF budget should be met quicker and the TIF district should end sooner. Also, as an additional check on the administering government's ability to sneak around by gradually increasing the budget to account for above-expected performance of the district, any amendment to the project plan that increases the TIF budget by 5% (on a cumulative basis, not each individual amendment) or more requires the amendment to go back through the same review committee and approval process that the original project plan had to.

Any problems with TIF, if there are any, are not with TIF itself--TIF is only a tool--but instead with the political process and accountability of those making decisions with regard to how TIF money is to be used.