CHATSWORTH - Concerns that a tax increment financing district would raise taxes or hurt schools were addressed Thursday at a public forum about the effort to help bring about the $333 million Oliver's Crossing property development.

A TIF district, which diverts some property tax money for economic development, would not raise property tax rates on anyone, officials told the 40 or so people who attended the forum at Chatsworth Town Hall. It also can be set up to limit the impact on the Prairie Central school district, they said.

The officials praised creating a TIF district as a key part of promoting growth.

"It is important to the town, and … now we can help with some of our problems," Chatsworth President Richard Pearson said. "This is not new in Illinois and every community with a growth plan has one. It is important and we are lucky to have this in Chatsworth."

Prairie Central Superintendent John Capasso said that he wanted to dispel any misconceptions that the school system opposes the TIF district.

In a TIF district, a portion of property tax money is diverted into a special fund to pay for incentives, such as loans, grants and infrastructure improvements, to promote economic development in a blighted or underdeveloped area.

As the area develops, the property becomes more valuable. That means it produces more property tax money, even though tax rates don't increase.

The taxing bodies, such as the city and the local school district, collect only the taxes they would have collected from the unimproved property. The rest of the property tax revenue goes into the TIF fund.

The TIF district has been proposed to aid the development of the $333 million, 942-acre Oliver's Crossing, which will feature a manmade lake of about 300 acres and about 800 residential lots, between Livingston County Highway 3 and 3200 East Road, co-developer Jerry Kurtenbach said.

Some TIF revenue can be allotted for the school district and other taxing bodies, noted Dan Walker, vice president of the Economic Development Group in Bloomington, which helped write a report on the TIF district with town consultant Thomas N. Jacob & Associates.

"It doesn't do any good for us if the taxing bodies are starved," Pearson said. "We take that into the utmost responsibility and concern into this matter."

The TIF district is expected to pump $94 million into the project, but the development would net more than that in taxes, said Jerry Kurtenbach, co-developer of Oliver's Crossing.

He said the development would bring in $265 million more in taxes than the undeveloped land would generate over the 23 years of the TIF district's life. Deduct the $94 million, and that yield $171 million for the taxing bodies, he said.