Tax Expenditures

CTBA, commissioned by the Daily Herald and ProPublica, performed an analysis of the 1989 economic development agreement (“EDA”) entered into by Hoffman Estates with Sears, Roebuck, and Company (“Sears”). The purpose of the analysis was to determine how effective the EDA proved to be and to quantify the impact the resulting development had on Hoffman Estates. The results of the analysis were utilized in a series of articles published by the Daily Herald and ProPublica.

Using a difference-in-differences model, the following report compares the economic performance of Hoffman Estates to a control group in order to isolate and identify the impact of development as a result of the EDA. The results suggest that the impact of the development generated by the Sears EDA was temporary, with a short-term spike in property values but no lasting impact on the growth trajectory of property value in Hoffman Estates, while failing to generate the job growth promised by the EDA.