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Amendment to Notice Requirements in Illinois Truth in Taxation Law: What You Need to Know

Sep 9, 2024

The Illinois General Assembly recently amended the notice requirements within the Truth in Taxation Law (the “Law”). 35 ILCS 200/18-55 et seq. The Law requires taxing districts to estimate the amount of money needed from property taxes at least 20 days prior to adoption of their final annual levy. If that amount is more than 105% of the prior tax year’s extensions, the taxing district must give public notice and hold a public hearing on the levy. The means of providing this notice is the subject of the recent amendment and this Alert.

For several years, the Law has required taxing districts with a website maintained by the full-time staff of the taxing district to post such notice on their website. Effective August 9, 2024, Public Act 103-1018 modified this website posting requirement. In addition to the newspaper posting requirements below, the Law now requires that the website notice be posted for a period of not less than 30 consecutive days and that the notice be posted on or near the top of the website’s homepage or on a page accessible through a direct link from the homepage. Prior to this amendment, no separate time frame was specified for the website posting of the public notice. The Law still requires that such notice be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the district “not more than 14 days nor less than 7 days prior to the date of the public hearing,” and contains detailed requirements for the form and content of that notice. Thus, a taxing district with a website must now be mindful of the 20-day period for estimating their levy, the 7-to-14 day newspaper notice period, and the new 30-day website notice period.

While failure of a taxing district to post the notice on its website shall not invalidate the notice or any action taken by a taxing district on the levy, it is best practice for a taxing district to post the public notice on its website and in the newspaper as set forth in more detail in the Truth in Taxation Law. Because most taxing districts work back from the date of the board meeting at which the levy will be adopted to develop their timeline for estimating levies, posting notice, and holding public hearings, it is recommended that taxing districts review and modify their proposed timeline for compliance with the new 30-day posting requirement.

This Alert is intended to highlight the recent amendment to the Truth in Taxation Law. It does not summarize all of the Law’s requirements. If your District has questions about this procedure or the required documentation, please contact your Robbins Schwartz attorney for further assistance.