The Tribune released a poll this weekend that found 64 percent of respondents supported Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid, but 75 percent opposed the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for any shortfalls.  Mayor Daley responded yesterday by reiterating his claim that taxpayers won't be on the hook for the games:

DALEY: This is not going to affect taxpayers. This will not affect taxpayers. We've said that a thousand times, we'll say that again. This is a public and private bid process. The federal government gives us money for infrastructure and money for security. 

Today, the Tribune published an article focused entirely on the element of Chicago's 2016 campaign that clearly undermines Daley's claim: the Olympic Village project in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood. The piece begins by asserting that taxpayers are "likely to wonder if they will end up paying the bill."  But then, buried down in the 24th paragraph, comes this revelation:

The city will use an unspecified amount of property tax revenues to pay for infrastructure costs such as new streets and sewers for the development, which would be turned into a new residential community even if the city doesn't win the Olympics.

Indeed, as the plan is currently laid out, taxpayers are certain to pay part of the bill thanks to Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

We previously noted that the Chicago City Council in mid-January approved the formation of a new TIF district encapsulating the proposed Olympic Village site.  As a result, any property tax increases within its boundaries over the next 23 years will be siphoned off by the Daley administration and used for whatever purposes they see fit.  Local taxing bodies such as schools, libraries, law enforcement, and parks will be deprived of these revenue increases -- and the residents who depend on them will ultimately feel the brunt.  

The Daley administration has cleverly tried to segregate the Olympic Village proposal from the Olympic bid itself.  But the Reader's Ben Joravsky -- quite rightly -- hasn't been buying it:

As for the Michael Reese site deal, the spin -- and these guys are always spinning when it come to TIFs -- is that it's money we'd be spending anyway even without the Olympics.

Sure it is. As though the city, which can barely find the money to pay to clear snow from its streets, has no more pressing need than to buy Michael Reese Hospital, tear it down, clean the site of toxins, and build a bunch of condos.

Worst of all, the local residents whose tax payments are filling this new TIF account will have no idea how much of their money is being diverted for this purpose, thanks to the fact that his information isn't included on Cook County tax bills.  When will the Tribune write about that?