Pass the Dramamine

At the forum Wednesday night (March 16, 2011), Ed Schock was spinning us around pretty good. I had hoped that Dave Kaptain would seize the moment, but he didn't. I had hoped the newspaper reporters would do a little fact-checking, but they didn't.

So, we're going to try to set the record straight.

When questioned about the lack of success in the downtown area renovation projects, Mayor Schock claimed that the public money spent there WAS productive. "Property values are up," he said.

And I wondered how he could say that. Restaurants have closed, condos are empty, office space is vacant...even the cowboy hat store/Mexican bus depot has closed.

Then I figured out where he's getting his numbers. It dawned on me that he was reading the tax bills.

He should know better than to do that. We showed the Kimball Street row house listed at $120,000, down from $400,000 per unit during the initial offering. Most of those units were never sold. But if you looked at the tax bills, you'd think things were just fine.

Here's an example of what I mean. 692 Summit Street.
Here's a chart of the taxes paid on the home:Everything looks prosperous and successful, right?
And here's what the tax man says the house is worth (Assessed Value x 3):Wow! This home is worth 33% more than it was six years ago, according to the tax rolls.

But the REALITY is that the home is worth far less. And here's a chart showing the estimated market value of the home:

But it gets WORSE. Here's the ACTUAL home value according to the real estate transactions and past offering prices:


The REALITY is that the home won't even sell for $59,900 and yet the property value on the book at Kane County shows the home worth $182,541.

So, here's the charitable view of what he told us about downtown Elgin: Ed Schock is living in a bureaucrat's world of tax assessment, oblivious to the reality of vacancies and distressed properties.

And here's a less charitable view of what he said: He's spinning the truth at the forums.

More to come on other topics he told us about.