Sen. Don Harmon

Filed: 4/8/2005

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 678

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 678 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4     "Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing
5 Sections 23-15, 23-20, and 23-35 as follows:
 
6     (35 ILCS 200/23-15)
7     Sec. 23-15. Tax objection procedure and hearing.
8     (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.
22     (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

 

 

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1 provide a complete remedy for any claims with respect to those
2 taxes, assessments, or levies, excepting only matters for which
3 an exclusive remedy is provided elsewhere in this Code.
4     (2) The taxes, assessments, and levies that are the subject
5 of the objection shall be presumed correct and legal, but the
6 presumption is rebuttable. The plaintiff has the burden of
7 proving any contested matter of fact by clear and convincing
8 evidence.
9     (3) Objections to assessments shall be heard de novo by the
10 court. The court shall grant relief in the cases in which the
11 objector meets the burden of proof under this Section and shows
12 an assessment to be incorrect or illegal. If an objection is
13 made claiming incorrect valuation, the court shall consider the
14 objection without regard to the correctness of any practice,
15 procedure, or method of valuation followed by the assessor,
16 board of appeals, or board of review in making or reviewing the
17 assessment, and without regard to the intent or motivation of
18 any assessing official. The doctrine known as constructive
19 fraud is hereby abolished for purposes of all challenges to
20 taxes, assessments, or levies.
21     (c) If the court orders a refund of any part of the taxes
22 paid, it shall also order the payment of interest as provided
23 in Section 23-20. Appeals may be taken from final judgments as
24 in other civil cases.
25     (d) This amendatory Act of 1995 shall apply to all tax
26 objection matters still pending for any tax year, except as
27 provided in Sections 23-5 and 23-10 regarding procedures and
28 time limitations for payment of taxes and filing tax objection
29 complaints.
30     (e) In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, if
31 the court renders a decision lowering the assessment of a
32 particular parcel on which a residence occupied by the owner is
33 situated, the reduced assessment, subject to equalization,
34 shall remain in effect for the remainder of the general

 

 

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1 assessment period as provided in Sections 9-215 through 9-225,
2 unless that parcel is subsequently sold in an arm's length
3 transaction establishing a fair cash value for the parcel that
4 is different from the fair cash value on which the court's
5 assessment is based, or unless the decision of the court is
6 reversed or modified upon review.
7     (f) In property tax rate objection cases, refunds may be
8 granted only to the extent that the property taxes objected to
9 were above the limit allowed by law or were used for
10 expenditures that were both illegal and without a valid public
11 purpose. This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly
12 applies to all final refund orders entered on or after the
13 effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General
14 Assembly.
15 (Source: P.A. 88-455; 88-642, eff. 9-9-94; 89-126, eff.
16 7-11-95; 89-290, eff. 1-1-96; 89-593, eff. 8-1-96; 89-626, eff.
17 8-9-96.)
 
18     (35 ILCS 200/23-20)
19     Sec. 23-20. Effect of protested payments; refunds. No
20 protest shall prevent or be a cause of delay in the
21 distribution of tax collections to the taxing districts of any
22 taxes collected which were not paid under protest. If the final
23 order of the Property Tax Appeal Board or of a court results in
24 a refund to the taxpayer, refunds shall be made by the
25 collector from funds remaining in the Protest Fund until such
26 funds are exhausted and thereafter from the next funds
27 collected beginning in the second budget year after entry of
28 the final order until full payment of the refund and interest
29 thereon has been made. Interest from the date of payment,
30 regardless of whether the payment was made before the effective
31 date of this amendatory Act of 1997, or from the date payment
32 is due, whichever is later, to the date of refund shall also be
33 paid to the taxpayer at the rate of 5% per year. This

 

 

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1 amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to all
2 final orders entered on or after the effective date of this
3 amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
4 (Source: P.A. 90-556, eff. 12-12-97.)
 
5     (35 ILCS 200/23-35)
6     Sec. 23-35. Tax objection based on budget or appropriation
7 ordinance. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 23-10, no
8 objection to any property tax levied by any municipality shall
9 be sustained by any court because of the forms of any budget or
10 appropriation ordinance, or the degree of itemization or
11 classification of items therein, or the reasonableness of any
12 amount budgeted or appropriated thereby, or the transfer of
13 assets from one fund or use to another fund or use, or any
14 other matter that is included in the budget or appropriation
15 ordinance and could be cured prior to adoption of the final
16 budget and appropriation ordinance, if:
17         (a) a tentative budget and appropriation ordinance was
18     prepared at the direction of the governing body of the
19     municipality and made conveniently available to public
20     inspection for at least 30 days prior to the public hearing
21     specified below and to final action thereon, or such other
22     time as may be required by the municipality's enabling act;
23         (b) at least one public hearing has been held by the
24     governing body as to the tentative budget and appropriation
25     ordinance prior to final action thereon, and notice of the
26     time and place where copies of the tentative budget and
27     appropriation ordinances are available for public
28     inspection, and the time and place of the hearing, has been
29     given by publication in a newspaper published in the
30     municipality at least 30 days prior to the time of the
31     hearing, or such other time as may be required by the
32     municipality's enabling act, or, if there is no newspaper
33     published in the municipality, notice of the public hearing

 

 

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1     has been given by publication in a newspaper of general
2     circulation in the municipality; and
3         (c) the budget and appropriation ordinance finally
4     adopted is substantially identical, as to the matters to
5     which objection is made, with the tentative budget and
6     appropriation ordinance submitted for discussion at the
7     public hearing, unless the taxpayer making the objection
8     has made the same objection in writing and with the same
9     specificity to the governing body of the municipality on or
10     prior to the date of the public hearing adoption of the
11     budget and appropriation ordinance.
12     "Municipality", as used in this Section, means all
13 municipal corporations in, and political subdivisions of, this
14 State except the following: counties; cities, villages and
15 incorporated towns; sanitary districts created under the
16 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act; forest preserve
17 districts having a population of 3,000,000 or more, created
18 under the Cook County Forest Preserve Park District Act; boards
19 of education of school districts in cities exceeding 1,000,000
20 inhabitants; the Chicago Park District created under the
21 Chicago Park District Act; and park districts as defined in
22 subsection (b) of Section 1-3 of the Park District Code.
23     This amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly applies to
24 all property tax levies based on budgets or appropriation
25 ordinances adopted on or after the effective date of this
26 amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly.
27 (Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
 
28     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
29 becoming law.".