State of Illinois
92nd General Assembly
Legislation

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92_SB0038

 
                                               LRB9202024SMdv

 1        AN ACT to amend the Property Tax Code by changing Section
 2    15-170.

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

 5        Section 5.  The Property Tax Code is amended by  changing
 6    Section 15-170 as follows:

 7        (35 ILCS 200/15-170)
 8        Sec.  15-170.   Senior  Citizens Homestead Exemption.  An
 9    annual homestead exemption limited, except as described  here
10    with  relation  to cooperatives or life care facilities, to a
11    maximum reduction set forth below from the property's  value,
12    as   equalized  or assessed by the Department, is granted for
13    property that is  occupied as a  residence  by  a  person  65
14    years  of  age  or older who is liable for paying real estate
15    taxes on the property and  is  an  owner  of  record  of  the
16    property  or  has  a  legal  or equitable interest therein as
17    evidenced by a written instrument,  except  for  a  leasehold
18    interest,  other than a leasehold interest of land on which a
19    single family residence is located, which is  occupied  as  a
20    residence  by a person 65 years or older who has an ownership
21    interest therein, legal, equitable or as  a  lessee,  and  on
22    which  he or she is liable for the payment of property taxes.
23    The maximum  reduction  shall  be  $2,500  in  counties  with
24    3,000,000  or  more  inhabitants  and  $2,000  in  all  other
25    counties.  For land improved with an apartment building owned
26    and  operated  as a cooperative or a building which is a life
27    care facility which shall be considered to be a  cooperative,
28    the  maximum  reduction  from  the  value of the property, as
29    equalized by the  Department,  shall  be  multiplied  by  the
30    number  of  apartments or units occupied by a person 65 years
31    of age or older who is liable, by contract with the owner  or
 
                            -2-                LRB9202024SMdv
 1    owners  of  record, for paying property taxes on the property
 2    and is an owner of record of a legal or equitable interest in
 3    the cooperative apartment building, other  than  a  leasehold
 4    interest.   For  land improved with a life care facility, the
 5    maximum  reduction  from  the  value  of  the  property,   as
 6    equalized  by  the  Department,  shall  be  multiplied by the
 7    number of apartments or units occupied by persons 65 years of
 8    age or  older,  irrespective  of  any  legal,  equitable,  or
 9    leasehold  interest  in the facility, who are liable, under a
10    contract with the owner or owners of record of the  facility,
11    for  paying property taxes on the property.  In a cooperative
12    or a life care facility where a homestead  exemption has been
13    granted, the cooperative association or  the  its  management
14    firm  of the cooperative or facility shall credit the savings
15    resulting from that exemption only  to  the  apportioned  tax
16    liability  of  the  owner  or  resident who qualified for the
17    exemption.  Any person who willfully refuses to so credit the
18    savings shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Under  this
19    Section  and  Section  15-175,  "life  care facility" means a
20    facility as defined in Section 2 of the Life Care  Facilities
21    Act, with which the applicant for the homestead exemption has
22    a  life  care contract as defined in that Act, which requires
23    the applicant to pay property taxes.
24        When a homestead exemption has been  granted  under  this
25    Section  and  the  person  qualifying  subsequently becomes a
26    resident of a facility licensed under the Nursing  Home  Care
27    Act,  the  exemption  shall continue so long as the residence
28    continues to be occupied by the qualifying person's spouse if
29    the spouse is 65 years of age or older, or if  the  residence
30    remains unoccupied but is still owned by the person qualified
31    for the homestead exemption.
32        A  person  who will be 65 years of age during the current
33    assessment year shall be eligible to apply for the  homestead
34    exemption  during that assessment year.  Application shall be
 
                            -3-                LRB9202024SMdv
 1    made during the application period in effect for  the  county
 2    of his residence.
 3        The  assessor  or  chief  county  assessment  officer may
 4    determine the eligibility of a life care facility to  receive
 5    the   benefits   provided  by  this  Section,  by  affidavit,
 6    application,  visual  inspection,  questionnaire   or   other
 7    reasonable  methods  in  order to insure that the tax savings
 8    resulting from the exemption are credited by  the  management
 9    firm  to  the  apportioned  tax  liability of each qualifying
10    resident.  The assessor may request reasonable proof that the
11    management firm has so credited the exemption.
12        The chief county assessment officer of each  county  with
13    less  than 3,000,000 inhabitants shall provide to each person
14    allowed a homestead exemption under this Section  a  form  to
15    designate  any  other  person  to  receive a duplicate of any
16    notice of delinquency in the payment of  taxes  assessed  and
17    levied  under  this  Code  on  the  property  of  the  person
18    receiving  the  exemption.  The duplicate notice  shall be in
19    addition to the notice required to be provided to the  person
20    receiving  the  exemption,  and  shall be given in the manner
21    required by this Code.  The person filing the request for the
22    duplicate  notice  shall  pay  a   fee   of   $5   to   cover
23    administrative  costs  to  the supervisor of assessments, who
24    shall then file the  executed  designation  with  the  county
25    collector.   Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code
26    to the contrary, the filing of such an  executed  designation
27    requires the county collector to provide duplicate notices as
28    indicated by the designation.  A designation may be rescinded
29    by  the  person who executed such designation at any time, in
30    the manner and form required by the chief  county  assessment
31    officer.
32        The  assessor  or  chief  county  assessment  officer may
33    determine the eligibility of residential property to  receive
34    the   homestead   exemption   provided  by  this  Section  by
 
                            -4-                LRB9202024SMdv
 1    application,  visual  inspection,  questionnaire   or   other
 2    reasonable  methods.   The  determination  shall  be  made in
 3    accordance with guidelines established by the Department.
 4        In counties with less  than  3,000,000  inhabitants,  the
 5    county  board  may by resolution provide that if a person has
 6    been granted a homestead exemption under  this  Section,  the
 7    person qualifying need not reapply for the exemption.
 8        In  counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, if the
 9    assessor or chief county assessment officer  requires  annual
10    application  for verification of eligibility for an exemption
11    once granted under this Section,  the  application  shall  be
12    mailed to the taxpayer.
13        The  assessor  or  chief  county assessment officer shall
14    notify each person who qualifies for an exemption under  this
15    Section that the person may also qualify for deferral of real
16    estate  taxes  under  the  Senior  Citizens  Real  Estate Tax
17    Deferral Act.  The notice shall set forth the  qualifications
18    needed  for  deferral  of  real estate taxes, the address and
19    telephone number of county collector, and  a  statement  that
20    applications  for  deferral  of  real  estate  taxes  may  be
21    obtained from the county collector.
22    (Source: P.A. 89-412, eff. 11-17-95; 90-471, eff. 8-17-97.)

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