In this audio interview, Tom Tresser of the TIF Illumination Project describes how the city of Chicago's tax-increment financing (TIF) program has driven the city deeper into debt.

In the Oct. 15, 2015 interview, Tresser says that the city's on-line TIF accounting reports show almost $100 million in fees paid to just two banks in 2014—indicating, Tresser says, that the city has been borrowing money for TIF expenditures and/or against existing TIF funds.

This borrowing happens with no public process or approval. That introduces, Tresser says, "a whole legal question of: Who can put us into debt?"

In the interview, Tresser talks of his Sept. 16, 2015 meeting with Chicago budget director Alexandra Holt, and her reaction to the TIF borrowing regime. (Length 3.3 minutes)

Standard audio: