The story behind Andersonville’s sidewalk sweeping, flowers, snow plowing, and much more.
In 2002, the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce (ACC) created the Andersonville Special Service Area #22 (SSA) to fund programs for the entire Clark Street commercial district. An SSA adds a special tax onto the property tax bills of commercial property owners (and through their rents, the local business owners) to pay for general upkeep of an area. Andersonville’s SSA is administered by ACC, with some program assistance from Andersonville Development Corporation (ADC). Andersonville’s SSA was the 22nd created in Chicago.
The Andersonville SSA service area is Clark Street and the side streets up to the alleys from Ainslie on the south to Victoria on the north.
SSA funds are entirely different from those of Tax Increment Financing, a.k.a., TIF. TIFs take the increased property taxes that accrue as property values rise and divert them into a special fund for use in development of a certain area. In an SSA district, property owners opt to tax themselves an additional percentage in order to have a pool of money to provide for general upkeep of the district. The SSA has its own board of directors, called a commission, made up of commercial property owners and business owners in the area. The SSA commissioners are nominated by those who pay the SSA tax — the commercial property owners — and given final approval by the Mayor. Read the rest of this entry »
