SB2345eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB2345 Engrossed LRB098 08392 HLH 38497 b

AN ACT concerning revenue.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing Sections 9-45, 11-10, 11-15, and 11-25 as follows:

(35 ILCS 200/9-45)

Sec. 9-45. Property index number system. The county clerk in counties of 3,000,000 or more inhabitants and, subject to the approval of the county board, the chief county assessment officer or recorder, in counties of less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, may establish a property index number system under which property may be listed for purposes of assessment, collection of taxes or automation of the office of the recorder. The system may be adopted in addition to, or instead of, the method of listing by legal description as provided in Section 9-40. The system shall describe property by township, section, block, and parcel or lot, and may cross-reference the street or post office address, if any, and street code number, if any. The county clerk, county treasurer, chief county assessment officer or recorder may establish and maintain cross indexes of numbers assigned under the system with the complete legal description of the properties to which the numbers relate. Index numbers shall be assigned by the county clerk in counties of 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, and, at the direction of the county board in counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, shall be assigned by the chief county assessment officer or recorder. Tax maps of the county clerk, county treasurer or chief county assessment officer shall carry those numbers. The indexes shall be open to public inspection and be made available to the public. Any property index number system established prior to the effective date of this Code shall remain valid. However, in counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, the system may be transferred to another authority upon the approval of the county board.

Any real property used for a power generating or automotive manufacturing facility located within a county of less than 1,000,000 inhabitants, as to which litigation with respect to its assessed valuation is pending or was pending as of January 1, 1993, may be the subject of a real property tax assessment settlement agreement among the taxpayer and taxing districts in which it is situated. In addition, any real property that is (i) used for natural gas extraction and fractionation or olefin and polymer manufacturing and (ii) located within a county of less than 1,000,000 inhabitants may be the subject of a real property tax assessment settlement agreement among the taxpayer and taxing districts in which the property is situated if litigation is or was pending as to its assessed valuation as of January 1, 2003 or thereafter. In addition, any real property that is used for refining crude oil located in a county of less than 1,000,000 inhabitants, as to which litigation with respect to its assessed valuation is pending or was pending as of January 1, 2011, may be the subject of a real property tax assessment settlement agreement among the taxpayer and taxing districts in which it is situated. Other appropriate authorities, which may include county and State boards or officials, may also be parties to such agreements. Such agreements may include the assessment of the facility or property for any years in dispute as well as for up to 10 years in the future. Such agreements may provide for the settlement of issues relating to the assessed value of the facility and may provide for related payments, refunds, claims, credits against taxes and liabilities in respect to past and future taxes of taxing districts, including any fund created under Section 20-35 of this Act, all implementing the settlement agreement. Any such agreement may provide that parties thereto agree not to challenge assessments as provided in the agreement. An agreement entered into on or after January 1, 1993 may provide for the classification of property that is the subject of the agreement as real or personal during the term of the agreement and thereafter. It may also provide that taxing districts agree to reimburse the taxpayer for amounts paid by the taxpayer in respect to taxes for the real property which is the subject of the agreement to the extent levied by those respective districts, over and above amounts which would be due if the facility were to be assessed as provided in the agreement. Such reimbursement may be provided in the agreement to be made by credit against taxes of the taxpayer. No credits shall be applied against taxes levied with respect to debt service or lease payments of a taxing district. No referendum approval or appropriation shall be required for such an agreement or such credits and any such obligation shall not constitute indebtedness of the taxing district for purposes of any statutory limitation. The county collector shall treat credited amounts as if they had been received by the collector as taxes paid by the taxpayer and as if remitted to the district. A county treasurer who is a party to such an agreement may agree to hold amounts paid in escrow as provided in the agreement for possible use for paying taxes until conditions of the agreement are met and then to apply these amounts as provided in the agreement. No such settlement agreement shall be effective unless it shall have been approved by the court in which such litigation is pending. Any such agreement which has been entered into prior to adoption of this amendatory Act of 1988 and which is contingent upon enactment of authorizing legislation shall be binding and enforceable.

(Source: P.A. 96-609, eff. 8-24-09.)

(35 ILCS 200/11-10)

Sec. 11-10. Definition of pollution control facilities. "Pollution control facilities" means any system, method, construction, device or appliance appurtenant thereto, or any portion of any building or equipment, that is designed, constructed, installed or operated for the primary purpose of:

(a) eliminating, preventing, or reducing air or water pollution, as the terms "air pollution" and "water pollution" are defined in the Environmental Protection Act, in compliance with federal or State requirements enacted or promulgated to eliminate, prevent, or reduce air pollution or water pollution; or

(b) treating, pretreating, modifying or disposing of any potential solid, liquid or gaseous pollutant which if released without treatment, pretreatment, modification or disposal might be harmful, detrimental or offensive to human, plant or animal life, or to property. "Pollution control facilities" shall not include, however,

(1) any facility with the primary purpose of (i) eliminating, containing, preventing or reducing radioactive contaminants or energy, or (ii) treating waste water produced by the nuclear generation of electric power,

(2) any large diameter pipes or piping systems used to remove and disperse heat from water involved in the nuclear generation of electric power,

(3) any facility operated by any person other than a unit of government, whether within or outside of the territorial boundaries of a unit of local government, for sewage disposal or treatment, or

(4) land underlying a cooling pond, .

(5) wind turbines, or

(6) ethanol producing facilities, except that systems, methods, construction, devices, or appliances appurtenant to those ethanol producing facilities may be considered pollution control facilities for the purposes of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 83-883; 88-455.)

(35 ILCS 200/11-15)

Sec. 11-15. Method of valuation for pollution control facilities. To determine 33 1/3% of the fair cash value of any certified pollution control facilities in assessing those facilities, the Department shall, where reasonable, consider: (1) take into consideration the actual or probable net earnings attributable to the facilities in question, capitalized on the basis of their productive earning value to their owner; (2) the probable net value which could be realized by their owner if the facilities were removed and sold at a fair, voluntary sale, giving due account to the expense of removal and condition of the particular facilities in question; or (3) such and other information as the Department may, consistent with principles set forth in this Section, believe to have a bearing on the fair cash value of the facilities to their owner consider as bearing on the fair cash value of the facilities to their owner, consistent with the principles set forth in this Section. For the purposes of this Code, earnings shall be attributed to a pollution control facility only to the extent that its operation results in the production of a commercially saleable by-product, or increases the production of the products or services otherwise sold by the owner of the facility, or reduces the production costs of the products or services otherwise sold by the owner of such facility.

(Source: P.A. 83-121; 88-455.)

(35 ILCS 200/11-25)

Sec. 11-25. Certification procedure. Application for a pollution control facility certificate shall be filed with the Pollution Control Board in a manner and form prescribed in regulations issued by that board. The application shall contain appropriate and available descriptive information concerning anything claimed to be entitled in whole or in part to tax treatment as a pollution control facility. If it is found that the claimed facility or relevant portion thereof is a pollution control facility as defined in Section 11-10, the Pollution Control Board, acting through its Chairman or his or her specifically authorized delegate, shall enter a finding and issue a certificate to that effect. The certificate shall require tax treatment as a pollution control facility, but only for the portion certified if only a portion is certified. The effective date of a certificate shall be January 1 of the year in which the certificate is issued the date of application for the certificate or the date of the construction of the facility, which ever is later.

(Source: P.A. 76-2451; 88-455.)