SPRINGFIELD, IL – A bill inspired by an honest mistake in Edgar County that negatively impacted the Chrisman school district passed the Illinois Senate on April 10, according to State Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet).
“Unfortunately, due to an honest error at the local county level, Chrisman school district was negatively impacted. What is worse is that current law prohibited the local officials from easily fixing what amounted to a clerical error,” Rose said. “This bill will fix this problem to ensure that no other school districts are negatively affected, like what happened here in Edgar County.”
Senate Bill 1737, if enacted, will allow a county tax collector to send a separate bill for the arrearages of taxes due, due to an administrative error on the part of the county. That bill may be due no sooner than 30 days after the due date for the next installment of taxes.
Edgar County Clerk Augie Griffin explained the situation that occurred. “The error was discovered rather quickly, but our office was forced to wait another year before we could officially fix it. Sadly, this error amounted to an $183,000 shortfall for the Chrisman school district,” Rose said. “What complicates the situation even further is that had the error been discovered after October 1, it would have a caused a two-year shortfall for the school district. I appreciate the efforts Senator Rose has spent on this initiative.”
County Clerk Griffin explained that this corrective measure could also benefit other counties across Illinois. He also stressed that because of the corrective action, no taxpayers are forced to pay additional taxes.
SB 1737 arrived in the House of Representatives on April 11 and is being sponsored by State Rep. Adam Brown (R-Champaign).