SB0678sam001 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Don Harmon

Filed: 4/8/2005

09400SB0678sam001 LRB094 04412 BDD 44398 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 678

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 678 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing Sections 23-15, 23-20, and 23-35 as follows:

(35 ILCS 200/23-15)

Sec. 23-15. Tax objection procedure and hearing.

(a) A tax objection complaint under Section 23-10 shall be filed in the circuit court of the county in which the subject property is located. Joinder of plaintiffs shall be permitted to the same extent permitted by law in any personal action pending in the court and shall be in accordance with Section 2-404 of the Code of Civil Procedure; provided, however, that no complaint shall be filed as a class action. The complaint shall name the county collector as defendant and shall specify any objections that the plaintiff may have to the taxes in question. No appearance or answer by the county collector to the tax objection complaint, nor any further pleadings, need be filed. Amendments to the complaint may be made to the same extent which, by law, could be made in any personal action pending in the court.

(b) (1) The court, sitting without a jury, shall hear and determine all objections specified to the taxes, assessments, or levies in question. This Section shall be construed to provide a complete remedy for any claims with respect to those taxes, assessments, or levies, excepting only matters for which an exclusive remedy is provided elsewhere in this Code.

(2) The taxes, assessments, and levies that are the subject of the objection shall be presumed correct and legal, but the presumption is rebuttable. The plaintiff has the burden of proving any contested matter of fact by clear and convincing evidence.

(3) Objections to assessments shall be heard de novo by the court. The court shall grant relief in the cases in which the objector meets the burden of proof under this Section and shows an assessment to be incorrect or illegal. If an objection is made claiming incorrect valuation, the court shall consider the objection without regard to the correctness of any practice, procedure, or method of valuation followed by the assessor, board of appeals, or board of review in making or reviewing the assessment, and without regard to the intent or motivation of any assessing official. The doctrine known as constructive fraud is hereby abolished for purposes of all challenges to taxes, assessments, or levies.

(c) If the court orders a refund of any part of the taxes paid, it shall also order the payment of interest as provided in Section 23-20. Appeals may be taken from final judgments as in other civil cases.

(d) This amendatory Act of 1995 shall apply to all tax objection matters still pending for any tax year, except as provided in Sections 23-5 and 23-10 regarding procedures and time limitations for payment of taxes and filing tax objection complaints.

(e) In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, if the court renders a decision lowering the assessment of a particular parcel on which a residence occupied by the owner is situated, the reduced assessment, subject to equalization, shall remain in effect for the remainder of the general assessment period as provided in Sections 9-215 through 9-225, unless that parcel is subsequently sold in an arm's length transaction establishing a fair cash value for the parcel that is different from the fair cash value on which the court's assessment is based, or unless the decision of the court is reversed or modified upon review.

(f) In property tax rate objection cases, refunds may be granted only to the extent that the property taxes objected to were above the limit allowed by law or were used for expenditures that were both illegal and without a valid public purpose. This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to all final refund orders entered on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 88-455; 88-642, eff. 9-9-94; 89-126, eff. 7-11-95; 89-290, eff. 1-1-96; 89-593, eff. 8-1-96; 89-626, eff. 8-9-96.)

(35 ILCS 200/23-20)

Sec. 23-20. Effect of protested payments; refunds. No protest shall prevent or be a cause of delay in the distribution of tax collections to the taxing districts of any taxes collected which were not paid under protest. If the final order of the Property Tax Appeal Board or of a court results in a refund to the taxpayer, refunds shall be made by the collector from funds remaining in the Protest Fund until such funds are exhausted and thereafter 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. Interest from the date of payment, regardless of whether the payment was made before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997, or from the date payment is due, whichever is later, to the date of refund shall also be paid to the taxpayer at the rate of 5% per year. This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to all final orders entered on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 90-556, eff. 12-12-97.)

(35 ILCS 200/23-35)

Sec. 23-35. Tax objection based on budget or appropriation ordinance. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 23-10, no objection to any property tax levied by any municipality shall be sustained by any court because of the forms of any budget or appropriation ordinance, or the degree of itemization or classification of items therein, or the reasonableness of any amount budgeted or appropriated thereby, or the transfer of assets from one fund or use to another fund or use, or any other matter that is included in the budget or appropriation ordinance and could be cured prior to adoption of the final budget and appropriation ordinance, if:

(a) a tentative budget and appropriation ordinance was prepared at the direction of the governing body of the municipality and made conveniently available to public inspection for at least 30 days prior to the public hearing specified below and to final action thereon, or such other time as may be required by the municipality's enabling act;

(b) at least one public hearing has been held by the governing body as to the tentative budget and appropriation ordinance prior to final action thereon, and notice of the time and place where copies of the tentative budget and appropriation ordinances are available for public inspection, and the time and place of the hearing, has been given by publication in a newspaper published in the municipality at least 30 days prior to the time of the hearing, or such other time as may be required by the municipality's enabling act, or, if there is no newspaper published in the municipality, notice of the public hearing has been given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality; and

(c) the budget and appropriation ordinance finally adopted is substantially identical, as to the matters to which objection is made, with the tentative budget and appropriation ordinance submitted for discussion at the public hearing, unless the taxpayer making the objection has made the same objection in writing and with the same specificity to the governing body of the municipality on or prior to the date of the public hearing adoption of the budget and appropriation ordinance.

"Municipality", as used in this Section, means all municipal corporations in, and political subdivisions of, this State except the following: counties; cities, villages and incorporated towns; sanitary districts created under the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act; forest preserve districts having a population of 3,000,000 or more, created under the Cook County Forest Preserve Park District Act; boards of education of school districts in cities exceeding 1,000,000 inhabitants; the Chicago Park District created under the Chicago Park District Act; and park districts as defined in subsection (b) of Section 1-3 of the Park District Code.

This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to all property tax levies based on budgets or appropriation ordinances adopted on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".