Two House Bills Potentially Impact Townships And Road Districts

april 11, 2014

House Bill 4425 (found here) was introduced in January. While it has been amended in committee, the main goal remains the same – a procedure for the elimination of "coterminous" townships (those townships which share boundaries with a municipality). The Bill is still pending in the Rules Committee.

However, House Bill 5311 (found here) was introduced in February, and has already passed out of the House by a vote of 066-043. This bill places a freeze on the 2014 tax levy for townships that have a population of 100,000 or less in "PTELL" or "tax cap" counties (for example, Tazewell County). For those familiar with the PTELL terminology, the "freeze" is defined as limiting "the increase in the township's 2014 aggregate extension to 0%." The bill does not freeze the levy for any other unit of government, and should a township wish to increase its levy, it will require a referendum. Before the bill passed the House, the following townships were exempted: Orland, Bloom, Rich, Stickney, and Calumet. The bill was sent to the Assignments Committee in the Senate.