Village of Spring Grove v. County of McHenry

723 N.E.2d 830, 309 Ill. App. 3d 1010
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 14, 2000
Docket2-99-0066
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 723 N.E.2d 830 (Village of Spring Grove v. County of McHenry) 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
Village of Spring Grove v. County of McHenry, 723 N.E.2d 830, 309 Ill. App. 3d 1010 (Ill. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

JUSTICE RAPP

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, the Village of Spring Grove (Village), with the approval of the electorate, established a police pension fund. Plaintiff determined that $45,000 would be required to support the police pension fund. Defendants involved in this appeal are the County of McHenry and Katherine Schultz in her capacity as county clerk of McHenry County. Defendants received plaintiff’s corporate levy and then applied a tax limitation. When the tax limitation was applied, the police pension fund received less than the $45,000 plaintiff had requested to support the police pension fund. Plaintiff filed a declaratory judgment action against these defendants. After the parties were at issue, defendants filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, and soon afterwards, plaintiff filed a similar motion. The trial court entered judgment in defendants’ favor. Plaintiff now appeals, arguing that the police pension fund is not subject to the tax limitation. We affirm.

On November 18, 1997, plaintiff approved ordinance No. 200 (Spring Grove, Ill., Ordinance No. 200 (passed and approved November 18, 1997)). This ordinance established the police pension fund in accordance with section 1 — 101 et seq. of the Illinois Pension Code (Pension Code) (40 ILCS 5/1 — 101 et seq. (West 1996)). On December 2, 1997, the plaintiff also approved ordinance No. 199 (Spring Grove, Ill., Ordinance No. 199 (passed and approved December 2, 1997)). This ordinance provided for the levying of taxes for all corporate purposes for the Village of Spring Grove. Attached to ordinance No. 199 was a list delineating the sums to be collected for various corporate purposes. The total amount to be collected was $166,845.34. The police pension fund was included in this list, requesting $45,000 to be extended and collected for that fund.

The county clerk applied the property tax extension limitation law (PTELL), pursuant to section 18 — 195 of the Property Tax Code (Tax Code) (35 ILCS 200/18 — 195 (West 1996)), to the $166,845.34, which was the total of the corporate funds sought. When PTELL was applied, it was determined that only $127,095.96 could be levied to cover the corporate funds.

On July 7, 1997, plaintiff filed a four-count complaint. In count I, the count subject to this appeal, plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment. Plaintiff alleged that the county clerk erred in combining the corporate funds and the police pension fund and then applying PTELL. Plaintiff claimed that the county clerk erred because section 3 — 125 of the Pension Code (40 ILCS 5/3 — 125 (West 1996)) mandates that plaintiff must levy a tax sufficient to meet the annual requirements of the pension fund. Plaintiff also claimed that the county clerk erred because the electors, in accordance with section 18 — 205 of the Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/18 — 205 (West 1996)), approved a rate in approving the police pension fund. Plaintiff argued that the rate the electors approved was a rate “sufficient to meet the requirements of the pension fund.” Because the county clerk applied PTELL to the pension fund, the pension fund did not receive the full amount that was needed to support the fund. Plaintiff also alleged that the fact that PTELL was imposed on the pension fund in 1998 means that in subsequent years the limit on the tax will continue to be imposed. Counts II through IV of plaintiff’s complaint were subsequently dismissed by agreement and are not the subject of this appeal, nor are original defendants State Farm Fire and Casualty and Katherine Schultz, individually.

On December 21, 1998, defendants filed a motion under section 2 — 615(e) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Civil Code) (735 ILCS 5/2— 615(e) (West 1998)) for judgment on the pleadings, and plaintiff filed a similar motion. Both parties stated in their motions that there was no question of material fact involved in resolving the dispute. Defendants acknowledged that, pursuant to section 3 — 145 of the Pension Code (40 ILCS 5/3 — 145 (West 1996)), a question about establishing a police pension was posed to the voters and approved by them on November 4, 1997. The question presented to the voters was, “Shall the Village of Spring Grove adopt Article 3 of the Illinois Pension Code pertaining to the creation of a police pension fund?” In the tax year 1996 plaintiff levied a single corporate fund. After the police pension fund approval, the Village added a second fund. Defendants argue that the limitations of PTELL can only be changed by (1) proposing a referendum under section 18 — 190 of the Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/18 — 190 (West 1996)) and having the voters approve it, or (2) increasing PTELL in an approved referendum under section 18 — 205 of the Tax Code (35 ILCS 200/18 — 205 (West 1996)). Moreover, defendants argue that neither the police pension fund referendum that was passed nor the applicable section of the Pension Code sets forth what rate the county clerk should impose on the police pension fund. Without this rate, the county clerk argues, she would be forced to calculate and impose her own rate, and this type of action is beyond the county clerk’s ministerial authority.

The trial court entered judgment in defendants’ favor and found that the county clerk did not err in applying PTELL to the police pension fund. Plaintiff then filed this timely appeal.

On appeal, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in granting defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. Plaintiff claims that the judgment was improperly entered because PTELL does not apply to the police pension fund. Plaintiff argues that PTELL does not apply because section 3 — 125 of the Pension Code requires that a tax sufficient to meet the annual requirements of the fund must be levied. 40 ILCS 5/3 — 125 (West 1996). Because $45,000 was determined to be a sufficient amount to fund the police pension, $45,000 of the levied taxes should have been given to the police pension fund. Plaintiff also claims that, by adopting the referendum for the police pension fund, the voters authorized a new rate, and this new rate is equal to an amount sufficient to meet the requirements of the police pension fund.

Section 2 — 615(e) of the Civil Code provides that a party may move for judgment on the pleadings. 735 ILCS 5/2 — 615(e) (West 1998). A motion to dismiss under section 2 — 615 should be granted only when it clearly appears that no set of facts could ever be proved that would entitle the plaintiff to recover. Mt. Zion State Bank & Trust v. Consolidated Communications, Inc., 169 Ill. 2d 110, 115 (1995).

Here, the parties do not dispute the facts of this cause. The only issue that is in dispute concerns the interpretation of and interrelation between the Pension Code and the Tax Code.

In interpreting a statute, a court must determine and give effect to the true intent of the legislature.

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Bluebook (online)
723 N.E.2d 830, 309 Ill. App. 3d 1010, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/village-of-spring-grove-v-county-of-mchenry-illappct-2000.