Full Text of SB2048 94th General Assembly
SB2048 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006 SB2048
Introduced 2/25/2005, by Sen. Don Harmon SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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35 ILCS 200/23-15 |
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35 ILCS 200/23-20 |
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35 ILCS 200/23-35 |
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Amends the Property Tax Code concerning tax objection procedures and hearings. Provides that, in property tax rate objection cases, refunds may be granted only to the extent that the property taxes objected to where above the limit allowed by law or were used for expenditures that were both illegal and without a valid public purpose. Provides that refunds made after the funds in the Protest Fund are exhausted shall be made by the collector from the next funds collected beginning in the second budget year after entry of the final order until
full payment of the refund and interest thereon has been made (now, the refunds must be made from the next funds collected after the entry of the final order). Provides that, for the purposes of tax
objections
based on budget or appropriation ordinances, "municipality" means all municipal
corporations in, and political subdivisions of, this State (now, excepts out
from this
definition a number of units of local government) and eliminates a basis on
which a
taxpayer may file an objection under these provisions. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY |
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A BILL FOR
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SB2048 |
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| AN ACT concerning taxes.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 10. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing | 5 |
| Sections 23-15, 23-20, and 23-35 as follows:
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| (35 ILCS 200/23-15)
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| Sec. 23-15. Tax objection procedure and hearing.
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| (a) A tax objection complaint under Section 23-10 shall be | 9 |
| filed in the
circuit court of the county in which the subject | 10 |
| property is located.
Joinder of plaintiffs shall be permitted | 11 |
| to the same extent permitted by law in
any personal action | 12 |
| pending in the court and shall be in accordance with
Section | 13 |
| 2-404 of the Code of Civil
Procedure; provided,
however, that | 14 |
| no complaint shall be filed as a class action. The
complaint | 15 |
| shall name the county collector as defendant and shall specify | 16 |
| any
objections that the plaintiff may have to the taxes in | 17 |
| question. No appearance
or answer by the county collector to | 18 |
| the tax objection complaint, nor any
further pleadings, need be | 19 |
| filed. Amendments to the complaint may be made to
the same | 20 |
| extent which, by law, could be made in any personal action | 21 |
| pending in
the court.
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| (b) (1) The court, sitting without a jury, shall hear and | 23 |
| determine all
objections specified to the taxes, assessments, | 24 |
| or levies in question. This
Section shall be construed to | 25 |
| provide a complete remedy for any claims with
respect to those | 26 |
| taxes, assessments, or levies, excepting only matters for
which | 27 |
| an exclusive remedy is provided elsewhere in this Code.
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| (2) The taxes, assessments, and levies that are the subject | 29 |
| of the objection
shall be presumed correct and legal, but the | 30 |
| presumption is rebuttable.
The plaintiff has the burden of | 31 |
| proving any contested matter of fact by
clear and convincing | 32 |
| evidence.
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| (3) Objections to assessments shall be heard de novo by the | 2 |
| court. The
court shall grant relief in the cases in which the | 3 |
| objector meets the burden of
proof under this Section and shows | 4 |
| an assessment to be incorrect or illegal.
If an objection is | 5 |
| made claiming incorrect valuation, the court shall
consider the | 6 |
| objection without regard to the correctness of any practice,
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| procedure, or method of valuation followed by the assessor, | 8 |
| board of appeals,
or board of review in making or reviewing the | 9 |
| assessment, and without regard
to the intent or motivation of | 10 |
| any assessing official. The doctrine known
as constructive | 11 |
| fraud is hereby abolished for purposes of all challenges to
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| taxes, assessments, or levies.
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| (c) If the court orders a refund of any part of the taxes | 14 |
| paid, it shall
also order the payment of interest as provided | 15 |
| in Section 23-20. Appeals may be
taken from final judgments as | 16 |
| in other civil cases.
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| (d) This amendatory Act of 1995 shall apply to all tax | 18 |
| objection matters
still pending for any tax year, except as | 19 |
| provided in Sections 23-5 and 23-10
regarding procedures and | 20 |
| time limitations for payment of taxes and filing tax
objection | 21 |
| complaints.
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| (e) In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, if | 23 |
| the court
renders a decision lowering the assessment of a | 24 |
| particular parcel on which a
residence occupied by the owner is | 25 |
| situated, the reduced assessment, subject to
equalization, | 26 |
| shall remain in effect for the remainder of the general
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| assessment period as provided in Sections 9-215 through 9-225, | 28 |
| unless that
parcel is subsequently sold in an arm's length | 29 |
| transaction establishing a fair
cash value for the parcel that | 30 |
| is different from the fair cash value on which
the court's | 31 |
| assessment is based, or unless the decision of the
court is | 32 |
| reversed or modified upon review.
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| (f) In property tax rate objection cases, refunds may be | 34 |
| granted only to the extent that the property taxes objected to | 35 |
| were above the limit allowed by law or were used for | 36 |
| expenditures that were both illegal and without a valid public |
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| purpose. This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly | 2 |
| applies to all final refund orders entered on or after the | 3 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General | 4 |
| Assembly.
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| (Source: P.A. 88-455; 88-642, eff. 9-9-94; 89-126, eff. | 6 |
| 7-11-95; 89-290, eff.
1-1-96; 89-593, eff. 8-1-96; 89-626, eff. | 7 |
| 8-9-96.)
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| (35 ILCS 200/23-20)
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| Sec. 23-20. Effect of protested payments; refunds. No | 10 |
| protest shall
prevent or be a cause of delay in the | 11 |
| distribution of
tax collections to the taxing districts of any | 12 |
| taxes collected which were
not paid under protest.
If the final | 13 |
| order of the Property Tax Appeal Board or of a court results
in | 14 |
| a refund to the taxpayer, refunds shall be made by the | 15 |
| collector from
funds
remaining in the Protest Fund until such | 16 |
| funds are exhausted and
thereafter from the next funds | 17 |
| collected beginning in the second budget year after entry of | 18 |
| the final order until
full payment of the refund and interest | 19 |
| thereon has been made. Interest from the date of payment, | 20 |
| regardless of whether the
payment was made before the effective | 21 |
| date of
this
amendatory Act of 1997, or from the date payment | 22 |
| is due,
whichever is
later, to the date of refund shall also be | 23 |
| paid
to
the taxpayer at the rate of 5% per year. This | 24 |
| amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to all | 25 |
| final orders entered on or after the effective date of this | 26 |
| amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
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| (Source: P.A. 90-556, eff. 12-12-97.)
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| (35 ILCS 200/23-35)
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| Sec. 23-35. Tax objection based on budget or appropriation | 30 |
| ordinance.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 23-10, no | 31 |
| objection to
any property
tax levied by any municipality shall | 32 |
| be sustained by any court because of the
forms of any budget or | 33 |
| appropriation ordinance, or the degree of itemization or
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| classification of items therein, or the reasonableness of any |
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| amount budgeted
or appropriated thereby, or the transfer of | 2 |
| assets from one fund or use to another fund or use, or any | 3 |
| other matter that is included in the budget or appropriation | 4 |
| ordinance and could be cured prior to adoption of the final | 5 |
| budget and appropriation ordinance, if:
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| (a) a tentative budget and appropriation ordinance was | 7 |
| prepared at the
direction of the governing body of the | 8 |
| municipality and made conveniently
available to public | 9 |
| inspection for at least 30 days prior to the public hearing
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| specified below and to final action thereon , or such other | 11 |
| time as may be required by the municipality's enabling act ;
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| (b) at least one public hearing has been held by the | 13 |
| governing body as
to the tentative budget and appropriation | 14 |
| ordinance prior to final action
thereon, and notice of the | 15 |
| time and place where copies of the tentative budget
and | 16 |
| appropriation ordinances are available for public | 17 |
| inspection, and the time
and place of the hearing, has been | 18 |
| given by publication in a newspaper
published in the | 19 |
| municipality at least 30 days prior to the time of the
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| hearing , or such other time as may be required by the | 21 |
| municipality's enabling act , or, if there is no newspaper | 22 |
| published in the municipality, notice of
the public hearing | 23 |
| has been given by publication in a newspaper of general
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| circulation in the municipality; and
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| (c) the budget and appropriation ordinance finally | 26 |
| adopted is
substantially
identical, as to the matters to | 27 |
| which objection is made, with the tentative
budget and | 28 |
| appropriation ordinance submitted for discussion at the | 29 |
| public
hearing, unless the taxpayer making the objection | 30 |
| has made the same objection
in writing and with the same | 31 |
| specificity to the governing body of the
municipality on or | 32 |
| prior to the date of the public hearing
adoption of the | 33 |
| budget and appropriation ordinance .
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| "Municipality", as used in this Section, means all | 35 |
| municipal corporations
in, and political subdivisions of, this | 36 |
| State except the following: counties;
cities, villages and |
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| incorporated towns; sanitary districts created under
the | 2 |
| Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act; forest preserve | 3 |
| districts
having a population of 3,000,000 or more, created | 4 |
| under the Cook County Forest
Preserve Park District Act; boards | 5 |
| of education of school districts in cities
exceeding 1,000,000 | 6 |
| inhabitants; the Chicago Park District created under the
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| Chicago Park District Act; and park districts as defined in | 8 |
| subsection (b) of
Section 1-3 of the Park District Code .
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| This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to | 10 |
| all property tax levies based on budgets or appropriation | 11 |
| ordinances adopted on or after the effective date of this | 12 |
| amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
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| (Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 15 |
| becoming law.
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