and Forest Preserve Initiatives
More grant opportunities for open space and recreation
PETER M. MURPHY
IAPD General Counsel
STATEHOUSE INSIDER
ISSUES & INSIGHTS FROM THE LEGAL/LEGISLATIVE SCENE
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Governor Approves Park and Forest Preserve Initiatives More grant opportunities for open space and recreation |
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CONGRATULATIONS to the IAPD membership on the tremendously successful legislative year that the association had in 1999. The Joint Legislative Committee put together an aggressive and ambitious legislative program designed to meet the needs of the members and to address some of the concerns they had with park district operations. The initiatives clearly will improve the ability of park districts and forest preserves to develop the district.
Increased grant opportunities came as a result of additional monies generated by the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development Act (OSLAD) and the Bike Path program.
The governor's Illinois FIRST initiatives were successfully competed for by the membership in order to fund some of their critical infrastructure needs. The Illinois FIRST program will continue and members are encouraged to stay in contact with their state representatives and senators in order to seek funding for projects that are important to their community.
A breakthrough in funding open lands acquisition was also made this year with the passage of Senate Bill 1087 entitled the Open Land Trust. This legislation will appropriate $40 million per year over the next four year period. One-half of these monies will be used by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to address its unmet needs for open space acquisition. Such acquisition has not been funded for more than three years and the IDNR currently has a critical backlog of land to be acquired. The other half of the program ($20 million) will be allocated to local governments for open space acquisition. At this writing IDNR—in conjunction with the various constituent groups it serves—is working to design grant criteria for the allocation of this money. A public comment period will take place once the rules have been sent to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.
More information will follow on this program as it becomes available.
LEGISLATION PASSED
Members also will benefit from legislation passed, which significantly expands their powers, including:
• Leased Real Estate
House Bill 833
(referenced as Public
Act 91-423) allows
park districts to lease
their real estate to any
corporation organized
in the state (previously
park districts could only
lease property to not-
for-profit organizations). While the
property must be used
for park and recreation
purposes this legislation
opens new avenues for
public/private cooperative ventures which
result in a win/win
situation for the
taxpayers of the district.
• Bond Authority
One of the
issues that park
districts have long
struggled with is the
impact that going to
referendum for the sale
of bonds had on the
districts' financial
authority. Such action
resulted in the elimination of a districts ability
to use its small portion
of non-referendum
bonding ability so that
if a referendum had
passed, the underlying
non-referendum
authority would be
voided until such time
as the referendum
approved bonds were
paid off. This was the
result of a strict
interpretation of the
Park District Code by
bond counsel in the
state of Illinois. Clearer
language in the
Municipal Code and
the School District
Code alleviated
this problem
for those units
of local government.
This year the association
was successful in
passing such clarifying
language for park
districts and in a era of
property tax caps this
new authority becomes
especially critical to the
needs of the membership. House Bill 841
was signed on July 29,
1999 and can be
referenced as Public Act
91-293.
• Land Acquisition
Park districts continue
to battle with the
escalating costs for the
acquisition of park land.
House Bill 842 which
passed this year and is
referenced as Public Act
91-490 seeks to provide
a partial answer to this
12 / Illinois Parks and Recreation
ISSUES AND INSIGHTS FROM THE LEGAL / LEGISLATIVE SCENE
problem. Previous legislative authority allowed a landowner to lease property to a park district for $1 or less per year and if that property was used by the park district exclusively as open space for recreational purposes it would be exempt from property taxes and there by relieve the property owner of this obligation. This previous authority was limited to 20 acres in the aggregate for every park district in the state of Illinois. House Bill 842 increased that limitation by 2 1/2 times to 50 acres. The parcels acquired can be smaller than 50 acres, but, in their aggregate can not exceed this figure.
• Excess Fund Balance
One of the questions frequently asked by park districts is how to handle excess fund balances at the end of the fiscal year. Two separate bills passed this year address this dilemma. The first is House Bill 843 which was signed by the Governor on July 29, 1999 and can be referenced as Public Act 91-294. This legislation permits any funds not pledged or allocated for a particular purpose to be transferred to and accumulated in a park district's capital improvement fund. The capital improvement fund can accumulate monies up to 1.5% of the total aggregate assessed value of all property in the park district. This expansive authority will go a long way towards assisting park districts in accumulating dollars in the budget for capital purposes without being subject to taxpayer objections.
• Transfer Interest Earned
The second piece of legislation which enhances the financial management of districts is House Bill 1151 (Public Act 91-300). This bill allows a district to transfer the interest earned on any of the monies of the district to the fund or funds of the district that are most in need of these monies. It exempts interest earmarked for a designated purpose and interest earned on funds used for the purpose of the Pension Code and Local Governmental and Governmental Tort Immunity Act.
• Eminent Domain
Legislation that was designed to cripple the ability of forest preserve districts to acquire land through the prudent use of eminent domain was held in the General Assembly without final action.
• Irrigation Contractors
Legislation which attempted to fix an interpretation of the Illinois Plumbing License Law—that would require that a licensed plumber install or maintain irrigation systems in the future rather than for this service performed by irrigation contractors— was the subject of a compromise amendment which delayed the implementation of the act regarding this activity until December 3, 1999. The cost to have a licensed plumber perform these installations and the required maintenance would place a significant economic burden on park districts and forest preserves that currently irrigate their golf courses and other facilities. The association will be working to seek a final and permanent solution to this problem when the General Assembly returns for veto session.
MEDIA FUELS ALARMIST LEGISLATION
On many occasions legislation is initiated as the result of media coverage regarding the failings of a limited number of local governments. This small universe of wrongdoers creates additional obligations for the rest of us and this year was no exception.
• Tort Liability Funds
Stories about the misuse of tort liability funds by local school districts resulted in the introduction of Senate Bill 941 which as initially drafted would have radically restrained the use of tort liability funds.
VETO SESSION DATES
Illinois Senate and House of Representatives
November 4 - Perfunctory Session
November 16, 17, 18 - Veto Session
November 30 - Veto Session
December 1,2- Veto Session
September/October 1999 /13
meetings with interested parties including the Illinois Taxpayers Federation a compromise bill was crafted which provides that a local unit of government shall not expend any revenue levied under the Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act for operations, maintenance, or new construction. It further requires the annual report signed by units of local government identify all expenditures for ton immunity purposes and a local public entity that maintains a self insurance reserve or that levies and extends a property tax for tort immunity purposes must include an audit or report of any expenditures made from the property tax or self-insurance reserve. Senate Bill 941 can be referred to as Public Act 91-628.
• Gift Ban Act
Finally, there were a
number of attempts by
members of the
General Assembly to
clarify the responsibilities of local governments subject to the
State Gift Ban Act.
Each of the proposals
introduced would in
their own way be
helpful, but, none of
them were passed by
the General Assembly.
We will continue to
revisit this issue until
the act make sense in its aaplication to local government.
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Gov. Ryan
Creates New Parkand Recreation Districts
Governor George H. Ryan signed legislation on July 13 authorizing the creation of several new metropolitan park and recreation districts. The new districts will interconnect trails and parks for biking, walking and other outdoor recreational activities with similar districts in Missouri. "This legislation will Continue our conservation and environmental efforts, Ryan said. We are preserving open space and improving the quality of life for the citizens of the entire St. Louis Metropolitan area. This action is significant because we are partnering with our neighbors in Missouri who are enacting similar legislation. I applaud the efforts of both state legislatures and Governor Carnahan."
The two bills, HB 702 from the Illinois legislature and SB 405 from the Missouri legislature, will create the Metro-East Park and Recreation District to improve, restore and preserve parks, natural lands and water supplies in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. The legislation, which is subject to voter approval in an upcoming referendum, authorizes the creation of separate metropolitan park and recreation districts. The districts will be linked together by an intergovernmental agreement that will coordinate the planning and development of the overall system of parks and trails. The districts may extend into five Illinois counties and six Missouri counties. The Illinois counties that are included are: Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair. The new districts will have the power to contract with existing park agencies as well as other public and private entities. |
NATIONAL FRONT
The U.S. House has provided $30 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund(LWCF) and $4 millinoin for the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (UPARR)
funding. These modest
amounts of money are a
good start to the reinitiation of LWCF. But
also a sad commentary
on the federal commitment to reinvest offshore
oil receipts in local and
national park acquisition
and development. Please
take the time today to
write a short note to
your congressman and
senator to ask for their
support of full and
permanent funding for
LWCF.
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CPI OVERVIEW
Following is a historical overview of the Property Tax Cap Limitation as it relates to CPI.
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*CPI was 6.1%
**For Cook County, |
14 / Illinois Parks and Recreation
