Trust No. 1105 v. People ex rel. Little

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State: Illinois

Court: 4th District Appellate

Docket No: 4-01-0690 Rel

Case Date: 04/10/2002

NO. 4-01-0690

IN THE APPELLATE COURT

OF ILLINOIS

FOURTH DISTRICT

TRUST NO. 1105, ALTORFER, INC.;BANKIER APARTMENTS; HELEN M. BATES;BURWELL OIL; CAMBRIDGE CORP.;DEVONSHIRE REALTY, LTD.; FARON PROPERTIES; RANDY HUGHES; J.S.M. MANAGEMENT;CHARLES KEELING; FRANK KRAUSS; KURZWEGTRUST; ADOLF LO; RENEE LO; ALEXANDERC. LO; ATSA TRUST; MIDSTATE HOME RENTERS; NEW CENTURY ESTATES; NIEMANNFOODS, INC.; ANTHONY NOEL; JAMESO'MALLEY; RAMSHAW-SMITH COMPANY;ROBESON'S, INC.; JOHN J. ROYSE; RYDERTRUCK RENTAL, INC.; GEORGE T.SHAPLAND; SPRINGFIELD ELECTRIC; andPAUL TATMAN,
                        Plaintiffs-Appellants,
                        v.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS exrel. ROGER D. LITTLE, County Treasurerand ex Officio County Collector ofTaxes for Champaign County, Illinois;COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #4;COUNTY OF CHAMPAIGN; and CHAMPAIGNTOWNSHIP ROAD DISTRICT,
                        Defendants,
                        and
CITY OF URBANA,
                        Defendant-Appellee.

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Appeal from
Circuit Court of
Champaign County
No. 98TX2

Honorable
Ann A. Einhorn,
Judge Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE McCULLOUGH delivered the opinion ofthe court:

Plaintiffs, various landowners in Urbana, appeal thetrial court's grant of summary judgment to defendant City ofUrbana after plaintiffs filed objections to property taxes fortax year 1997. We affirm.

In November 1998, plaintiffs filed objections toproperty taxes levied for tax year 1997 by defendants, City ofUrbana (Urbana), Community Unit School District No. 4, County ofChampaign, and Champaign Township Road District. (The latterthree defendants previously settled with plaintiffs and are notinvolved in the present appeal.) Plaintiffs alleged that defendants' 1997 levies were unnecessary and an abuse of discretion.

In February 1999, plaintiffs and Urbana stipulated thatUrbana had accumulated, in its Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund(retirement fund), assets equal to 2.42 times the retirementfund's expenditures for fiscal year 1996-97 and 2.42 times theretirement fund's average annual expenditures for fiscal years1994-95, 1995-96, and 1996-97.

In June 2001, plaintiffs and Urbana each filed a motionfor summary judgment. After a July 2001 hearing, the trial courtdenied plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and grantedUrbana's motion for summary judgment. This appeal followed.

Plaintiffs initially urge us to overrule the portion ofour decision in Alpha Gamma Rho Alumni v. People ex rel. Boylan,322 Ill. App. 3d 310, 315-16, 750 N.E.2d 282, 289 (2001), whichheld that a home rule unit's tax levy is not subject to judicialreview for abuse of discretion under Central Illinois PublicService Co. v. Miller, 42 Ill. 2d 542, 248 N.E.2d 89 (1969). Plaintiffs contend that court inquiry under Miller is sufficiently deferential to home rule units and that the public policyagainst excessive accumulation of public funds expressed inMiller, which predated the introduction of home rule in Illinois(Ill. Const. 1970, art. VII,