Board of Education of Auburn Community Unit School District No. 10 v. Department of Revenue

941 N.E.2d 888, 398 Ill. App. 3d 629
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 10, 2010
Docket4-09-0806
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 941 N.E.2d 888 (Board of Education of Auburn Community Unit School District No. 10 v. Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Education of Auburn Community Unit School District No. 10 v. Department of Revenue, 941 N.E.2d 888, 398 Ill. App. 3d 629 (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE MYERSCOUGH

delivered the opinion of the court:

In October 2008, the Board of Education of Auburn Community Unit School District No. 10 (Auburn Board) filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against the Illinois Department of Revenue (Department) and its Director, Brian Hamer. The Auburn Board sought a ruling that the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) (35 ILCS 200/18 — 185 through 18 — 245 (West 2008)) no longer applied to the Auburn Community Unit School District No. 10 (Auburn District). In November 2008, the complaint was amended to include Sangamon County, Montgomery County, and the clerks of both counties as defendants.

In April 2009, the Auburn Board moved for summary judgment. In June 2009, the Department and Hamer also moved for summary judgment. In September 2009, the trial court granted the Auburn Board’s motion for summary judgment and denied the Department and Hamer’s motion. We reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

The Auburn District was originally located entirely within Sangamon County. In January 2007, the Regional Board of School Trustees of Sangamon County (Regional Board) dissolved the Divernon Community Unit School District No. 13 (Divernon District) and annexed some Divernon District territory to the Auburn District. This annexation gave the Auburn District a small amount of territory in Montgomery County such that the reconstituted Auburn District has approximately 0.3% of its total equalized assessed valuation in Montgomery County and 99.7% in Sangamon County.

In April 2008, the Sangamon County clerk’s office sent correspondence to the Auburn District stating that the reconstituted Auburn District was exempt from PTELL (35 ILCS 200/18 — 185 through 18 — 245 (West 2008)). PTELL limits the ability of units of local government to raise property taxes. The Sangamon County clerk had previously applied PTELL when calculating the Auburn District’s tax extension because Sangamon County voters approved PTELL by referendum in 1996 (35 ILCS 200/18 — 213 (West 1996)). In contrast, Montgomery County has never held a referendum on PTELL.

On April 24, 2008, legal counsel for the Auburn District sent correspondence to the Department requesting an opinion on whether the reconstituted Auburn District was subject to PTELL since it now contained territory located in both a PTELL county and a non-PTELL county. The Auburn District sought this opinion in order to facilitate the issuance of bonds for $9 million worth of improvements involving heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, roofing, lighting, windows, and paving at two elementary schools and one middle/high school. On August 26, 2008, deputy general counsel for the Department responded by letter stating that the Department declined to issue a formal opinion because PTELL contains “no explicit provision that clearly addresses the situation.” Instead of a formal opinion, the letter provided informal guidance that PTELL still applied to the Auburn District based on the Department’s reading of sections 18— 213 and 18 — 214 of PTELL (35 ILCS 200/18 — 213, 18 — 214 (West 2008)). The last four paragraphs of the letter read as follows:

“After examining the language in PTELL it is apparent that there is no explicit provision that clearly addresses the situation. As a result, the Department declines to issue any formal opinion or ruling on your request.
However, if the Department were required to provide guidance in this matter, based on the Department’s analysis of the most relevant sections (35 ILCS 200/18 — 213 and 18 — 214) in this specific circumstance, it appears the Auburn [District] remains subject to PTELL and its restrictions. Section 18 — 213 covers referenda and the applicability of PTELL, while section 18 — 214 details referenda on the removal of the applicability of PTELL to non-home rule taxing districts. Neither section appears to lend support to the conclusion the Auburn [District] should no longer be subject to PTELL.
The applicability of PTELL to the Auburn [District] is further bolstered when considering the intent of the PTELL statute to provide transparency and voter participation; the fact that Sangamon County already voted to approve PTELL; and due to the fact that the vast majority of the Auburn [District] is contained within Sangamon County.
Based on the analysis contained herein, the Department’s guidance is that Auburn [District] remains subject to PTELL and its restrictions.”

In October 2008, the Auburn Board filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against the Department and Hamer. In November 2008, the complaint was amended to include Sangamon County, Montgomery County, and the clerks of both counties as defendants. In April 2009, the Auburn Board moved for summary judgment. In June 2009, the Department and Hamer filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. In September 2009, the trial court granted the Auburn Board’s motion for summary judgment and denied the Department and Hamer’s motion.

This appeal followed. The Sangamon and Montgomery County clerks are not parties to this appeal. Although Hamer is an appellant, he will not be mentioned further because his arguments are identical to those of the Department.

II. ANALYSIS

We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Smith v. Neumann, 289 Ill. App. 3d 1056, 1063, 682 N.E.2d 1245, 1249 (1997). De novo review is also appropriate because this case presents a question of law. People v. Bonutti, 212 Ill. 2d 182, 188-89, 817 N.E.2d 489, 493 (2004).

The Auburn Board argues PTELL no longer applies to the Auburn District based upon section 18 — 213 of PTELL. 35 ILCS 200/18 — 213 (West 2008). Section 18 — 213 lays out the requirements for the initial implementation of PTELL. Section 18 — 213 provides as follows:

“Referenda on applicability of the [PTELL].
(a) The provisions of this [s]ection do not apply to a taxing district subject to this [l]aw because a majority of its 1990 equalized assessed value is in a county or counties contiguous to a county of 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, or because a majority of its 1994 equalized assessed value is in an affected county and the taxing district was not subject to this [l]aw before the 1995 levy year.
(b) The county board of a county that is not subject to this [l]aw may, by ordinance or resolution, submit to the voters of the county the question of whether to make all non-home rule taxing districts that have all or a portion of their equalized assessed valuation situated in the county subject to this [l]aw in the manner set forth in this [s]ection.

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941 N.E.2d 888, 398 Ill. App. 3d 629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-education-of-auburn-community-unit-school-district-no-10-v-illappct-2010.