Legal/Legislative Scene

Legislature Adjourns Overtime Session after Budget Accord and Tax Increases By Peter M. Murphy IAPD General Counsel

The Illinois General Assembly continued its legislative session into mid-July before adjournment on the evening of July 13th.

Lack of consensus and a balk due to the budget by Democratic members of the Illinois Senate made an expedient end to the legislative session only a good idea. In fact, in the last 60 years the Illinois General Assembly has adjourned on schedule only five times, most recently in 1990.

Amidst the finger-pointing regarding the major issues, the regular business of the Illinois House and Senate continued efficiently.

HOUSE BILL 1923, addressing non-resident fees for park programming, was part of an omnibus fee package bill (HOUSE BILL 1105). This legislation, which passed the House by only 60 votes, fell prey to the Senate Democratic refusal to approve legislation before seeing the final appropriations bill.

Subsequently, HB 1105 was passed and suit to the Governor for his signature.

As reported previously HOUSE BILL 1922, which contains the major portion of the Illinois Association of Park Districts' Legislation Platform, was approved by the Illinois General Assembly and has also been sent to Illinois Governor Jim Edgar for his signature.

Cook County governments received the special attention of the General Assembly this year with the passage of a number of bills impacting them.

Among those bills sent to the Governor were HOUSE BILL 2080, which requires taxing districts in Cook County to disclose by publication and hold a hearing on their intention to adopt an aggregate levy in an amount more than 105% of the amount of property taxes extended upon the final aggregate levy of the preceding year or in an amount more than the amount of property taxes extended upon the aggregate levy of the preceding year increased by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index during the calendar year preceding the levy year, whichever is less. This legislation, which was proposed by Cook County Assessor Tom Hynes, sets forth a schedule of hearings required to be held by units of local government. Hearings must be held in accordance with the following schedule:

1st Sunday in December: Park Districts

1st Monday in December: School Districts

1st Tuesday in December: High School Districts

1st Wednesday in December: Township and Road Districts

1st Thursday in December: Municipalities

1st Friday in December: Counties

1st Saturday in December: All other Taxing Districts

NOTE that under this legislation the truth and taxation hearing may not coincide with the hearing on the proposed budget of the tax district.

No taxing district in Cook County will be permitted to levy an amount in excess of the preceding year's levy until the hearing

LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE SCENE

and notice provisions of the Act are complied with.

The General Assembly also passed HB 1038 which requires that Cook County place an advisory question on the 1994 general election ballot asking the following:

Should the Illinois General Assembly limit annual property tax extension increases to a maximum of 5% or as provided by the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less? Yes / No

Attempts to pass legislation clarifying that park and forest preserve district non-referendum bonds are not subject to the property tax cap were sidelined this session after two successful efforts in the Illinois Senate. SB 1 and HB 1125 both included the amendatory language proposed by IAPD and both passed the Illinois Senate with substantial support only to be held in the House Rules Committee. This issue will be reinitiated during the fall veto session.

Grants under the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program for fiscal year (FY) 1993 totaled $17.4 million and included 100 projects selected from a submittal of nearly 300 projects with an estimated cost of more than $200 million. This program utilizes $13.9 million of federal Surface Transportation Program funds from the ten percent set aside by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA).

The Illinois program chooses enhancement projects that have a direct linkage or relationship to the transportation system.

Projects for the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program for fiscal year 93 were selected in the following categories:

Non motorized—62 projects funded at a cost of $12.1 million which include bike paths, pedestrian ways, and hiking trails.

Historic—22 projects funded at a cost of $3.3 million including restoration of brick streets and renovation of facades.

Scenic Beautification—15 projects funded at a cost of $1.9 million for the planting of perennial and wildflowers.

Outdoor advertising—$200,000 for the voluntary removal of non-conforming billboards.

In 1993 there were 20 state sponsored projects at a cost of $6.6 million and 80 locally sponsored projects at a cost of $10.8 million. The sponsor is responsible for providing the 20 percent, non-federal matching funds, necessary right of way, project management and maintenance of the project after completion.

The FY 1993 program includes $4 million for preliminary engineering on future enhancement projects totaling approximately $48 million. Candidate programs not selected for the FY 1993 program that remain eligible for funding for this enhancement program can be evaluated for future programs.

New project submittals for the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Grant Program must be submitted by August 2, 1993. Note that projects in urbanized areas must be submitted through the appropriate Metropolitan Planning Organization. All other candidate projects should be submitted directly to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Examples of programs sponsored by the Illinois Park, Forest Preserve and Conservation Districts which received enhancement monies for FY 1993 are listed below:

Chicago Park District. Construction of a bike path at the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago, $99,950.

DuPage County Forest Preserve. Construction of a 0.7-mile, hike/bike trail through Blackwell Forest Preserve, $161,000.

DuPage County Forest Preserve. Construction of a 0.7-mile, hike/bike trail to link the Prairie Path to the Great Western Trail through the Timber Ridge Forest Preserve, $100,000.

Kane County Forest Preserve. Engineering for three Prairie Path bridges in Kane County: across Fox River in South Batavia, across Kirk Road Trail Branch (construction cost is estimated at $929,900), $78,100.

LaGrange Forest Preserve. Engineering for construction of a 0.2 mile hike/ bike trail and a bridge over Salt Creek to connect with Cook County Forest Preserve District trail network (construction cost is estimated at $199,525), $28,418.

McHenry County Conservation District. Engineering for construction of an 8.5 mile, rail trail to connect segments of the Prairie Trail (construction cost is estimated at $889,000), $90,500.

Oak Brook Park District. Engineering for construction of a tunnel under 1-88 Tollway at Cermak Road to connect the existing hike/bike path system (construction cost is estimated at $515,000), $51,500.

Will County Forest Preserve. Engineering for construction of a 2.7 mile, hike/bike trail along the I&M Canal in Heritage Park in Joliet and Lockport Townships (construction is estimated at $2,810,245), $230,000.

Rockford and Rockford Park District. Construction of the Chestnut Street pedestrian bike underpass that connects Davis Park to the District regional bike/pathway system; continue path to south end of the park, $768,000.

Rockford Park District. Engineering for widening the Rock River bridges to accommodate pedestrians and bicycles in Loves Park (construction cost is estimated at $716,295), $71,660.

Rockford Park District. Engineering for restoration of suspension bridge over Kent Creek and construction of a recreation path along the north bank of Kent Creek (construction cost is estimated at $390,500), $69,600.

Kendall County Forest Preserve District. Engineering for construction of the 2.4-mile Kendall County extension of Fox River Trail (construction cost is estimated at $560,000), $55,000.

Champaign Park District. Construction of a 1.5-mile, hike biket rail in Kaufinan Park, $42,430.

Macon County Conservation District. Construction of a pedestrian trail adjoining the Fairview Bike Trail: two 90-foot bridges will cross Stevens Creek and a 360-foot bridge will span Sangamon River, $372,810.

Quincy Park District. Engineering for renovation of the Villa Kathrine Great River Road Visitor Center in Quincy (construction cost is estimated at $353,000), $22,000.

Information that follows set forth the election results from the Intermodal SurfaceTransportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) Grants on the following pages:

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FEDERAL AND STATE FUNDING SOURCES FOR

(1) Excludes land acquisition

(2) Bicycle and pedestrian facilities related to transit projects only

(3) Includes land acquisition

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TRANSPORTATION ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITIES

LAWCON N/A HISTORIC PRESERV. FUND WATER RESOURCES DEV. ACT PLEASE NOTE: This chart is an oversimplification of various complex programs; please contact the following agencies for details. CONTACTS: Contact your metropolitan palnning organization or: a) IL Department of Transportation 2300 So. Dirksen Parkway Springfield, IL 62764 ITEP, STP, Scenic Byways & OGL: Dale Janik (217) 782-6006 CMAQ Program: Carla Berroyer (217) 782-7868 FTA Programs: Steve Schindel (312) 793-2111 b) IL Department of Conservation 524 South Second Street Springfield, IL 62701 ATTN: Ron Halberg Ph. (217) 782-7481 c) IL Historic Preservation Agency Old State Capitol Springfield, IL 62701 ATTN: Jim Walsh Ph. (217) 785-2997 d) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District Box 2004 Rock Island, IL 61204 Ph. (309) 788-6361   IDOC b) IHPA c) US ARMY CORP of ENGNR S d) FTA Federal Transit Act (2) SYMMS National Recreational Trails Funds LAWCON Land & Conserv. Pgrm. (w/OSLAD) (3,4) Illinois Bicycle Path Grant Program Certified Local Governments Program (5) ILL & Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor 80% fed $ 20% loc $ 100% fed $ FFY 93 50% fed $ 50% loc $ 50% state $ 50% loc $   not yet available                                             60% fed $ 40% loc $           60% fed $ 40% loc $ not yet available   100% fed $ FFY 93 50% fed $ 50% loc $ 50% state $ 50% loc $ 60% fed $ 40% loc $                       60% fed $ 40% loc $

(4) State Oslad program follows LAWCON guidelines

(5) Program restricted to Historic Register Properties only

(6) Eligible within ISTEA but not high priority under ITEP

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Referenda Results

The following are the results of referenda included on ballots for the Primary election held on April 20, 1993. The data for this report was obtained from election authorities and jurisdictional canvassing board abstracts. The following is a summary of those referenda.

There were a total of 488 referenda proposals appearing on the consolidated ballots in the various jurisdictions. There were 384 different referenda proposals presented by 329 units of government.

Type Number of Proposals Pass/Fail Taxes 177 64/113 Bonds 88 50/38 Miscellaneous 91 67/24 Advisory 28 22/6

Type Number of Proposals Pass/Fail County 19 10/9 Municipality 108 69/39 Township/Road District 33 23/10 School 145 49/96 Miscellaneous 79 52/27

Type Number of Proposals Pass/Fail Education 64 17/47 Operations 10 3/7 Transportation 3 0/3 Bonds 54 27/27

Specific results of park and forest preserve district referenda are as follows:

County District Type Description Pass/Fail Cook Dixmoor Park District Miscellaneous Dissolve Fail Cook Dixmoor Park District Bonds Tennis Court(s) Question Pass Cook Dixmoor Park District Bonds Recreational Facility Pass Cook Hoffman Estates Park District Taxes Recreational Programs Fail Cook Inverness Park District Bonds Build & Equip Bidg. Addition Fail Cook Palatine Park District Taxes Recreational Programs Fail Cook Pleasantdale Park District Miscellaneous Annexation Fail Cook Pleasantdale Park District Miscellaneous Annexation Fail DuPage Bloomingdale Park District Taxes Tax Extension Limitation Fail DuPage Butterfield Park District Miscellaneous Annexation Fail DuPage Carol Stream Park District Bonds Acquisition of Property Fail DuPage Lombard Park District Bonds Recreational Facility Fail St. Clair Collinsville Area Park District Miscellaneous Decrease Gen.Rev. Fund Pass Tazewell Pekin Park District Miscellaneous Sell Property Pass