By: Brittany Flaherty Theis

Earlier this year, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 508, which was signed into law as Public Act 102-0519. The legislation created Section 18-233 of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (“PTELL”) in the Property Tax Code. It creates a recoupment process for property tax revenue lost to property tax refunds.

Section 18-233 provides that “a taxing district levy shall be increased by a prior year adjustment whenever an assessment decrease due to the issuance of a certificate of error, a court order issued pursuant to an assessment valuation complaint under Section 23-15, or a final administrative decision of the Property Tax Appeal Board results in a refund from the taxing district of a portion of the property tax revenue distributed to the taxing district.” This recoupment is intended to assist taxing districts that are subject to PTELL recover from the loss of revenue caused by property tax refunds for the purposes listed in Section 18-233.

Pursuant to Section 18-233, county treasurers are required to certify the aggregate refunds paid by a taxing district during the prior 12-month period by today, November 15, and by this date each year going forward.

The legislation has great potential to help taxing districts throughout the State but also creates new questions and considerations for the property tax cycle. For example, currently the levy is mandatory. House Bill 4130 is pending in the Illinois legislature that would make the levy discretionary. We do not yet know whether that legislation will get traction.

Additionally, through the supplemental property tax levy, any refunds obtained through Section 18-233 are essentially passed along to the taxpayers in the subsequent year’s levy. Therefore, it remains critical for taxing districts to monitor the assessment appeals within their district and intervene accordingly.

As implementation of this law continues, and when the General Assembly reconvenes, Whitt Law LLC will continue to monitor the implementation of Public Act 102-0519 and the status of House Bill 4130. Please feel free to reach out to Attorneys Stuart L. Whitt or Brittany Flaherty Theis if you have questions regarding PTELL, this legislation, or the impact of property tax assessment matters on your taxing district.