Prairie State Wire

An amendment to a bill that would make changes to certain property taxes during the COVID-19 crisis was heard during a recent House Executive Committee meeting.

House Floor Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 685 deals with property taxes during the coronavirus crisis and allows county boards to waive summer interests for delinquent property taxes, House Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside) said during the committee meeting.

The bill received 13 "Yes" votes and zero "No" votes, and therefore recommended, adopted and sent to the House floor for consideration.

"It would allow for certain property taxes to be waived for 120 days," Zalewski said on the floor.

House Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) questioned if this could already be done by statute, which Zalewski said it could.

"But, in certain counties, an influx of states attorneys opinions have run contrary to that view, so we want to be explicit that, yes, the counties can do this," Zalewski said.

Wehrli asked why it's "called the Covid 19 property tax relief bill, but when I look at it all it really does is people with disabilities, senior citizens, vets, etc. – is there anything in this bill that will help your average citizen that does not have exemption?"

Zalewski said the bill did not, to which Wehrli noted that it wasn't exactly a property tax relief bill.

"It’s just codifying for people who already have exemptions," Zalewski said. "This is people who are already taken care of at the county level."

House Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) said while the bill itself isn't bad, he hopes changes are made on the House floor.

"Certainly this is something that we should agree everyone in Illinois should get a little bit of time?" Sosnowski said. "Will you consider making an amendment for this?"

Zalewski said they tried their best to balance the need for the bill versus what they were hearing from locals and, after a long discussion, they chose to make it permissive and count on counties to do what’s right.

"I certainly hope you will consider changing this on the floor, but the rest of the bill is good," Sosnowski said. "It's a move in the right direction."