Property Tax Freeze Passes House, Not Considered in Senate

Posted November 10, 2017 in Legislative briefs

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Property Tax Freeze Passes House, Not Considered in Senate 

Legislation to temporarily freeze property taxes advanced through the House, but was not considered by the Senate during the fall veto session.

The Illinois Municipal League (IML) previously reported on SB 851 (available via this link) in the November 6 edition of the Statehouse Briefing (available via this link).  

The bill would impose a mandatory two-year, temporary property tax freeze on taxing districts located within Cook and the collar counties (Lake, DuPage, McHenry, Kane and Will) for the 2017-2018 levy years. County boards in all other counties would be authorized to ask voters via referendum if a two-year property tax freeze should be imposed on taxing districts within those counties. If approved by voters in those counties, the property tax freeze would become effective for the 2018-2019 levy years. 

Exemptions from the property tax freeze are available for funding pensions and debt service.  

In addition, the bill would increase two property tax exemptions for qualified residents outside of Cook County. The purpose of these increases is to establish parity with property tax exemptions offered to qualified Cook County residents. IML opposes the bill.   

On Wednesday, November 8, the House approved the bill as amended on a vote of 75-32-1 and sent the legislation to the Senate. The Senate did not take up the bill prior to concluding its business on Thursday, November 9.  

Neither the House nor the Senate are scheduled to convene until early 2018. 
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As always, IML staff will continue to track any prospective legislative developments and aggressively advocate on behalf of our membership. Should you have any questions, please contact our Legislative Department at (217) 525-1220 or IMLLegislation@iml.org. Thank you.