Report to the People # 53 by Philip W. Chapman, County Board District Three
The purpose of this Report to the People is to provide information and aid in government transparency.
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Judiciary Committee-MESD Lawsuit 4 May: State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons reported filing suit against the Metro East Sanitary District because it illegally created a special service area for taxation purposes against Illinois Statute. The MESD claimed to be a ‘municipality’ in order to levy property taxes. The State’s Attorney argued MESD’s Ordinance # 2017-0-016 is void and invalid. Some posit the MESD would; (1) collect a 66% tax increase on over 13,000 residents, and, (2) create an unauthorized layer of government. (See Case # 2018MR000109)
Judiciary Committee- Opioid Crisis on 4 May I provided the Judiciary Committee background information on the opioid crisis. Addiction and deaths mount due to addiction to heroin and prescription opioids in Madison County. Local leadership must cooperate towards an effective response whether a lawsuit is filed or not. I call for creating plan based upon successful models used elsewhere.
Judiciary Committee- Legalization of Marijuana – On 4 May I provided committee members with literature detailing problems associated with legalization of recreational marijuana. Many at federal and state levels call for legalization. However, experience shows legalization is no panacea and that numerous problems ensue after legalization. Notable among these are; (1) increased use among youth which may create psychological problems during their formative years, and, (2) increased traffic violations from individuals driving while impaired. Local leadership must plan for problems associated with legalization.
PTELL- Property Tax Limitation Law: A number of constituents asked me about PTELL. Q: Why PTELL? PTELL is designed to limit the increases in property tax extension for non-home rule taxing districts. Q: Will PTELL CAP MY TAX? NO PTELL is known as ‘tax caps’ but this can be misleading. PTELL does not cap either individual property tax bills or individual property assessments. Instead PTELL allows a taxing district to receive a limited inflationary increase in tax extensions on exiting property plus an additional amount for new construction. The limit slows the growth of revenues to taxing districts when property values and assessments increasing faster than the rate of inflation. What is the limitation? Increases in property tax extensions are limited to the lesser of 5% or the increase in the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the preceding levy year. Can Limitations be increased? YES the limitation can be increased for a taxing body with voter approval. (Information taken from Illinois Department of Revenue Website)
Respectfully submitted,
Philip W. Chapman
County Board District Three
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