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March 29, 2024

Bill Introduced To Greatly Increase Mclean County Property Taxes; Increases Tax Base of Bloomington Normal Airport Authority –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On February 27, 2023

Mclean Co., IL. (ECWd) –

Senator David Koehler has introduced SB2447, which will increase property taxes to the majority of Mclean County property owners and is designed to provide the Bloomington Normal Airport Authority with a greatly expanded tax base.

Decades ago, when the cities of Bloomington and Normal decided to build an airport under the Airport Authorities Act, it did so without regard to property owners not situated within the authority boundaries.

Now the Airport Authority wants to force property owners of the entire County of Mclean to pay taxes to the authority to support its operation.

Typically, the method of including properties into the tax base of an airport authority is to have residents of specific townships pass a referendum, or for specific owners to sign a petition for annexation if they want to get saddled with more debt.

Within Section 9.1 of the Airport Authorities Act are directions on how to properly annex additional properties into the authority either by 1) a petition signed by a majority of the landowners in the area to be annexed, or 2) by a petition for referendum signed by at least 10% of the landowners and submitted to the voters as a referendum. These methods would, however, require the agreement of property owners, which is apparently too big of a hill to climb for Bloomington and Normal.

Instead of using the statute to expand its tax base, the Bloomington Normal Airport Authority found a friendly legislator to attempt to circumvent state law and the voters, and to force all real estate within the county to pay property taxes to the authority.

Incidentally, previous attempts at this have failed, let’s hope SB2447 fails also.

 

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3 Comments
  • Dave
    Posted at 16:23h, 27 February

    Illinoisans already have the heaviest overall tax burden in the nation, enough already!

  • Robert O. Bogue
    Posted at 00:35h, 28 February

    Let’s hope.

  • Kathiann
    Posted at 09:10h, 07 March

    Four words: Harvest Ridge Wind Farm.
    This is not the first time Illinois has used this method of rolling over the populace….I’m reminded of recent history when EDP Renewables was in a lawsuit in 2018 up against two rural townships in Douglas County who didn’t want their area filled with 600 plus foot tall wind turbines. (That would have been the neighbors who didn’t have land leases).

    In 2019 while the suit was still going thru the court system, the legislature stepped in and passed a law that took away township rights to zone and gave those rights to the counties.(someone must have been concerned)

    Fast forward to January 2023, The IL Assembly passed a new law that says now COUNTIES can’t keep wind farms and solar out and now have to make their zoning laws line up with state law. This is how things are currently done in IL.

    Every time local governments attempt to rule their territories for their local people, the state squashes them

    Elections have consequences is not just a cliche….

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