Bill could flip SSA laws
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com
It cost a group of Johnsburg residents thousands of dollars to fight the special tax that village officials hoped would pay for a sewer project.
But if a bill working its way through the state legislature passes, the way municipalities tax their residents could be turned upside down.
Currently, municipalities can generate funding for infrastructure projects by levying a tax only on residents within the project’s boundaries.
These are called special service area taxes, or SSAs.
In Johnsburg’s case, the village sought to pay for a $10 million sewer project by using money generated from an SSA.
Current law states that the tax will be levied unless residents can prove through a petition drive that at least 51 percent of those within the SSA oppose the tax.
The crux of the debate in Johnsburg was whether SSA opponents had enough support to halt the tax.
“[It’s] asking the taxpayers to prove a negative,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo. “They’re requiring people who don’t want it to prove they don’t want it.”
Senate Bill 1555, which passed in the Illinois House last week and is up for consideration by the state Senate this week, is calling for that process to be flipped.
If the bill passes, the law would require municipalities or taxing bodies to prove that 51 percent of residents within an SSA support the tax, not vice versa.
This could be done through a petition drive, similar to the rigorous one that opponents of SSA No. 23 in Johnsburg performed, or through a selective referendum.
“Let them do the work for a change,” said Franks, who worked on the bipartisan bill with state Sen. Pam Althoff, R-McHenry.
If the bill becomes law, it wouldn’t be retroactive, Franks said. That means that if Johnsburg officials appeal the April court ruling that SSA opponents had enough support to halt the tax, the case would be considered under the law as it previously existed.
