Kane County Reporter

The Batavia Public School district received a presentation from the city of Aurora about the construction of a new casino and potential TIF impacts on the school district.

“We wanted to come tonight to update you on the relocation of the Hollywood Casino from downtown Aurora to the property immediately west of the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall on Farnsworth," Alex Alexandrou, chief management officer, said during the meeting.

The board uploaded a live stream of its public meeting to the district’s YouTube channel.

At their May 23 board of education meeting, members of the Batavia school district welcomed officials from the city of Batavia to talk about the new Hollywood Casino being relocated. As Batavia’s Chief Financial Officer Anton Inglese explained, the development is “in the city of Aurora, but within the Batavia school district.”

The board voted to pay $10,000 to buy "Western Civilization Since 1300, Enhanced AP Edition" by Jackson Spielvogel for the district’s AP European History.

Alexandrou explained they were there to update the school on the relocation of the casino, “While we physically may be quite a ways away from Bilter and Farnsworth, where the casino is going to be located. It is, in fact, as you well know, based on the very successful experience of our Chicago premium outlet mall within the jurisdiction of School District 101, in fact, that is known in our circles as the most successful TIF in Illinois, if not one of the most successful in the country.”

The board also voted to increase breakfast and lunch prices at all schools. Breakfast for kindergarten to eighth grade is $1.60 and for ninth to 12th grade is $1.80, lunch for kindergarten to eighth grade is $3.35 and lunch for ninth to 12th grade is $3.55.

Aurora’s Chief Financial Officer, Christopher Minick, walked the school board through the financial and TIF impacts they might be seeing. He explained that the casino was being moved because of a decline in attendance and revenue at the location, and the relocation will allow the developer to leverage changes in gaming laws in the state, and allow for the expansion of services in their casino. The relocation and redevelopment were solidified in an agreement between the developer and the city in the fall of 2022.

The board also voted to work with Quest Food Management Service to do the district’s food service.

Minick explained that of the nine parcels that the new casino site sits on, they “generate a little over $48,000 in total property taxes and of that $48,000, about $29,850 comes to School District 101.” Along with this, none of those parcels have been a part of the TIF District 7 adjacent to the property for various reasons. A TIF district (Tax Increment Financing) is a program that collects and sets aside tax revenues within its boundaries to be used for redevelopment and improvement of the area. The plan is to have the parcels of the casino site be a separate micro TIF, which the city is in the process of doing, hopefully establishing it before the end of 2023.

The board also voted to pay approximately over $2 million in fees and payroll.

Minick also explained that there was an intergovernmental agreement put in place when TIF District 7, which contains the new casino site, was created. This agreement involves a lengthy process of the city setting aside 10% of TIF revenue as surplus each year, which the county then distributes to overlapping districts. Through this agreement, the school district was given $39,000 in 2022.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20, at the Rosalie Jones Administration Center at 335 West Wilson St.

“So under the terms of the new micro TIF, the city, for its part, intends to continue to honor the 10% annual surplus distribution for the new casino Micro TIF. What this means is $525,000 will be declared surplus annually,” Minick explained. This would be split up in the overlapping districts, meaning there would be a “payment to the school district on an annual basis of $323,400. Additionally, the existing inter-governmental agreement would continue in existence and we would continue to pay the 10% annual surplus for the remaining properties in TIF number seven until TIFF number seven expires in 2034.” There will be other increases from the development because of existing TIF agreements.