093_SB1373

 
                                     LRB093 10637 SJM 10943 b

 1        AN ACT concerning property taxes.

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

 4        Section  5.  The Property Tax Code is amended by changing
 5    Sections 9-230, 16-55, and 16-125 as follows:

 6        (35 ILCS 200/9-230)
 7        Sec.  9-230.   Return  of  township   or   multi-township
 8    assessment books. The township or multi-township assessors in
 9    counties with less than 500,000 600,000 inhabitants shall, on
10    or  before  April  15  of  the  assessment  year,  return the
11    assessment  books  or  workbooks   to   the   supervisor   of
12    assessments.  The  township  or  multi-township  assessors in
13    counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, but more  than
14    700,000  600,000 inhabitants, shall, on or before November 15
15    of the  assessment  year,  return  the  assessment  books  or
16    workbooks  to  the supervisor of assessments. The township or
17    multi-township assessors in counties with 500,000 or more but
18    no more than 700,000 inhabitants shall, on or before November
19    15 of the assessment year, but not before October 15  of  the
20    assessment  year, return the assessment books or workbooks to
21    the   supervisor   of   assessments.   If   a   township   or
22    multi-township assessor in a county with less than  3,000,000
23    inhabitants,  but more than 500,000 600,000 inhabitants, does
24    not return the assessment books  or  work  books  within  the
25    required   time,  the  supervisor  of  assessments  may  take
26    possession of the books and complete the assessments pursuant
27    to law. Each of the books shall be verified by  affidavit  by
28    the assessor substantially as follows:
29    State of Illinois)
30                     )ss.
31    County of .......)
 
                            -2-      LRB093 10637 SJM 10943 b
 1        I  do  solemnly  swear  that  the  book  or books .... in
 2    number, to which  this  affidavit  is  attached,  contains  a
 3    complete  list  of  all  of  the  property in the township or
 4    multi-township  or  assessment  district   herein   described
 5    subject  to  taxation for the year .... so far as I have been
 6    able to ascertain, and that the assessed value  set  down  in
 7    the  proper column opposite the descriptions of property is a
 8    just and equal assessment of the property according to law.
 9        Dated ...............
10        If the supervisor  of  assessments  determines  that  the
11    township  or  multi-township  assessor  has not completed the
12    assessments  as  required  by  law   before   returning   the
13    assessment  books  under  this  Section, the county board may
14    submit a bill to the  township  board  of  trustees  for  the
15    reasonable costs incurred by the supervisor of assessments in
16    completing the assessments.
17    (Source: P.A. 85-1253; 88-455.)

18        (35 ILCS 200/16-55)
19        Sec.  16-55.   Complaints.  On written complaint that any
20    property is overassessed or underassessed,  the  board  shall
21    review the assessment, and correct it, as appears to be just,
22    but  in  no  case  shall the property be assessed at a higher
23    percentage of fair cash value  than  other  property  in  the
24    assessment district prior to equalization by the board or the
25    Department.  A  complaint  to  affect  the assessment for the
26    current year shall be filed on or  before  the  10th  day  of
27    August  in counties with less than 150,000 inhabitants and on
28    or before the 10th day of September in counties with  150,000
29    or  more  but  less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, except if the
30    assessment books containing the assessment complained of  are
31    not filed with the board of review by the 10th day of July in
32    a  county  with fewer than 150,000 inhabitants or by the 10th
33    day of August in a county with 150,000 or more but less  than
 
                            -3-      LRB093 10637 SJM 10943 b
 1    3,000,000  inhabitants,  then the complaint shall be filed on
 2    or before 30 calendar days after the date of  publication  of
 3    the  assessment list under Section 12-10. The board may also,
 4    at any  time  before  its  revision  of  the  assessments  is
 5    completed in every year, increase, reduce or otherwise adjust
 6    the  assessment  of  any  property,  making  changes  in  the
 7    valuation  as may be just, and shall have full power over the
 8    assessment of any  person  and  may  do  anything  in  regard
 9    thereto that it may deem necessary to make a just assessment,
10    but the property shall not be assessed at a higher percentage
11    of  fair  cash  value  than  the  assessed valuation of other
12    property in the assessment district prior to equalization  by
13    the board or the Department. No assessment shall be increased
14    until  the  person to be affected has been notified and given
15    an opportunity to be heard, except as  provided below. Before
16    making any reduction in assessments of its  own  motion,  the
17    board  of  review  shall give notice to the assessor or chief
18    county assessment officer who certified the  assessment,  and
19    give  the  assessor  or  chief  county  assessment officer an
20    opportunity to be heard thereon.
21        All complaints of errors in assessments of property shall
22    be in writing, and shall be filed by  the  complaining  party
23    with the board of review, in duplicate. In counties with more
24    than  500,000  but  less than 700,000 inhabitants, complaints
25    may, in the alternative, be filed with the assessor or  chief
26    county  assessment  officer  who  certified  the  assessment.
27    Complaints filed with the assessor or chief county assessment
28    officer must otherwise meet the requirements of this Section.
29    The assessor or chief county assessment officer shall forward
30    the  complaint  to  the  board  of  review  upon receipt. The
31    duplicate shall be filed by the  board  of  review  with  the
32    assessor or chief county assessment officer who certified the
33    assessment. In all cases where a change in assessed valuation
34    of $100,000 or more is sought, the board of review shall also
 
                            -4-      LRB093 10637 SJM 10943 b
 1    serve a copy of the petition on all taxing districts as shown
 2    on  the last available tax bill at least 14 days prior to the
 3    hearing on the complaint.
 4        All taxing districts shall  have  an  opportunity  to  be
 5    heard  on  the  complaint.  Complaints shall be classified by
 6    townships or taxing districts by the clerk of  the  board  of
 7    review.   All   classes   of  complaints  shall  be  docketed
 8    numerically, each in its own class, in  the  order  in  which
 9    they  are  presented,  in  books kept for that purpose, which
10    books shall be open to public inspection.   Complaints  shall
11    be  considered  by  townships  or  taxing districts until all
12    complaints have been heard and passed upon by the board.
13    (Source: P.A. 86-345; 86-413; 86-1028; 86-1481; 88-455.)

14        (35 ILCS 200/16-125)
15        Sec. 16-125.  Hearings.  In counties  with  3,000,000  or
16    more  inhabitants, complaints filed with the board of appeals
17    (until the first Monday in December 1998  and  the  board  of
18    review  beginning  the  first  Monday  in  December  1998 and
19    thereafter) shall be classified by townships. All  complaints
20    shall be docketed numerically, in the order in which they are
21    presented,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  books  or computer
22    records kept for that purpose, which shall be open to  public
23    inspection.  The  complaints shall be considered by townships
24    until they have been heard and  passed  upon  by  the  board.
25    After  completing  final action on all matters in a township,
26    the board shall transmit such final  actions  to  the  county
27    assessor.
28        A  hearing upon any complaint shall not be held until the
29    taxpayer affected and the  county  assessor  have  each  been
30    notified  and have been given an opportunity to be heard. All
31    hearings shall be open to the public and the board shall  sit
32    together  and  hear  the  representations  of  the interested
33    parties or their representatives.  An order for a  correction
 
                            -5-      LRB093 10637 SJM 10943 b
 1    of any assessment shall not be made unless both commissioners
 2    of  the  board, or a majority of the members in the case of a
 3    board of review, concur therein,  in  which  case,  an  order
 4    therefor  shall  be  made  in open session and entered in the
 5    records  of  the  board.   When  an  assessment  is   ordered
 6    corrected,  the  board  shall transmit a computer printout of
 7    the results and , or make and sign a brief written  statement
 8    of  the  reason  for  the  change and the manner in which the
 9    method used by the assessor  in  making  the  assessment  was
10    erroneous,  and  shall deliver a copy of the statement to the
11    county assessor.  Upon  request  the  board  shall  hear  any
12    taxpayer  in  opposition  to  a  proposed  reduction  in  any
13    assessment.
14        The  board may destroy or otherwise dispose of complaints
15    and records pertaining thereto after the  lapse  of  5  years
16    from the date of filing.
17    (Source:  P.A.  91-393,  eff.  7-30-99;  91-425, eff. 8-6-99;
18    92-133, eff. 7-24-01.)

19        Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act  takes  effect  on
20    January 1, 2004.