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State asked to help again as tiny school district fights huge private equity firm over property taxes

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Illinois

* Back in 2015…

Officials with the Shawnee School District #84 fear schools could face closing if the county reassesses a southern Illinois power plant’s property value.

A letter from the Jackson County Board of Review to the school district details the Grand Tower Energy Center, LLC is asking the county to lower its full market value on the Grand Tower Power Plant from $100,337,421 to $7,049,295. […]

Now, a letter from the county to the school district details what the plant’s new owner is asking. It asks that the county lower its full assessed value on the property by more than $90 million.

* Also from 2015…

A power plant says it hasn’t been able to pay more than $2 million in taxes to Jackson County because of a property tax assessment.

The Grand Tower Energy Center said in a statement to the Southern Illinoisan that it’s “not in a financial position to make tax payments based on the current assessment.” The plant said it has been working with the county assessor’s office for nearly two years to resolve the issue but its efforts have been “rebuffed.”

The Jackson County Board of Review in May upheld the assessed tax valuation after plant officials tried to get the property’s full valuation reduced from about $100 million to about $7 million.

* From the above-referenced Southern Illinoisan story…

In the statement from the power plant, it says the plant has submitted its appeal for the second year to the Board of Review.

Rendleman said the decision on the property taxes in 2014 has already been made by the Board of Review. If the power plant wants to appeal that decision, it must go through the Property Tax Appeals Board in Springfield.

Scott Ginsburg, legal representation for the Shawnee School District, said the procedure in Springfield requires the plant to pay the taxes first, and if it wins, they get the difference back plus interest.

* The Grand Tower Energy Center did go to the Property Tax Appeals Board, and it ruled in 2019 that full market value should be $20 million, not $100 million.

WSIL TV…

A recent decision by the Property Tax Appeal Board could cost local taxpayers millions of dollars.

The board decided Tuesday to lower the Grand Tower Energy Center’s property tax bill retroactively for 2014 and 2015. […]

Ameren owned the power plant until 2014, when it sold the plant, along with two others in Illinois, to a financial firm called Rockland Capital. […]

The Shawnee School District stands to lose the most, about $2.5 million according to the Jackson County Tax Assessor’s office.

* The school district had also complained that Grand Tower Energy Center was “required to pay the taxes under protest before filing a statutory objection with either the PTAB or the court.” PTAB rejected that argument and the school district appealed. The Fifth District Appellate Court ruled three years later, in 2022, that PTAB was right on both counts (the property value and that the company didn’t need to pay taxes up front in protest). From the school district…

In a momentous departure from longstanding Illinois law, an appellate court found that delinquent taxpayers who deliberately withhold taxes may still pursue a claim for property tax assessment relief. In so doing, the court, in the case of Shawnee Community Unit School District No. 84 v. Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, 2022 IL App (5th) 190266-U, provided a roadmap to taxpayers looking to coerce taxing districts into accepting favorable settlements, lest the taxing districts, including schools, lose the local property tax revenue they need to perform their essential functions like providing education to children and safety services to the public. […]

The Fifth District’s decision upended nearly a century of Illinois case law reaffirming the “payment under protest” doctrine meant to prevent taxpayers from harassing local taxing bodies by withholding operating funds as part of a strategy to extract favorable property tax settlements.

* Last September…

Shawnee School District Superintendent Shelly Clover-Hill says her schools and Galatia School District will receive a significant loss grant in the Illinois State Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

* Last October…

“Can you imagine the catastrophic breakdown of social services if every tax payer in Illinois found out now, there’s a 5th district decision that says you don’t have to pay while you protest,” [Shawnee School District Superintendent Shelly Clover-Hill] explains. “That’s hospitals and road and police and fire and schools.” […]

Clover-Hill says other school districts across the state are concerned about the 5th district’s decision and how it could impact their tax funding. Those districts have offered their support to Shawnee.

She expects this case to be heard by the Illinois Supreme Court in the Spring of 2023.

* Yesterday…

A school district in southern Illinois is asking the state for some financial help and this isn’t the first time a company nearby refuses to pay its property taxes, for the second year in a row.

“This is unfortunately not the first time they have failed to pay their taxes. They put us in this same boat last year,” said Shawnee District #84 superintendent Shelly Clover-Hill.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 1:06 pm

Comments

A certain pro football team is watching this im sure. There must be some appeal to the Supreme Court on this. Century of case law thrown out just like that? Doesn’t seem right

Comment by regular democrat Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 1:43 pm
The combination of funding schools primarily through local property taxes PLUS the Illinois problem of having too many tiny units of government makes this so much worse than it ever needed to be.

Comment by Homebody Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 1:58 pm
Quite simply, another Union County school that will eventually consolidate into another.

County has approximately 16,000 residents and more than a half dozen separate school districts. Consolidation is coming to my county and Shawnee is simply the first domino to fall.

Comment by Flyin'Elvis'-Utah Chapter Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 2:06 pm
==Ameren owned the power plant until 2014, when it sold the plant,==

For how much? That’s the value.

Comment by Jocko Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 2:08 pm
Remember that if you fail to pay your property taxes, your taxes will be sold and you can actually lose title to your property. So I’m not sure how many taxpayers are willing to go this route. And PTAB isn’t exactly known for their quick decisions.

Comment by Numbers Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 2:11 pm
As a former resident of the county I couldn’t agree more. There should be a county wide school district . I remember many years ago when some consolidation was tired but people were afraid other towns would tell them what to do and close schools.

Comment by Publius Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 2:15 pm
Homebody is spot on.

As an alumnus of a now-merged school district (RIP Divernon), I can attest to the only benefit of tiny school districts being the closeness. Students deserve the better opportunities that come with larger districts, regardless of the nostalgia and “good old days” attached to small schools.

That said, the appellate court decision is scary. Hopefully it’s overturned by the state supreme court.

Comment by Squirrel Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 2:35 pm
For whatever reason, these very profitable power companies have a habit of trying to devalue their assets for the purposes of taxation, or have them declared personal property so they are not taxed. A district I was in fought this all the way to the appellate court and lost. Funny thing was, in the written opinion of each court, the courts agreed with the district but still upheld the assessors valuation.

=Consolidation is coming to my county and Shawnee is simply the first domino to fall.=

I wouldn’t get ahead of myself on that one. If this creates debt for the school district, they will be a very unattractive consolidation option. If they are geographically large, and do not have adequate funding, few if any other districts will be interested in taking them on.

Several are right to note the impact of “nostalgia” on the consolidation discussion. Also, rural districts sometimes get less financially efficient with consolidation. They are forced to keep schools open because no one wants their 2nd grader on the bus for an hour and a half each way. And then their are mascots.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 2:45 pm
–That’s the value–

Oh for it to be so simple. If I sold my house to my daughter for $1.99, that would not make the new value about two bucks.

Comment by Stix Hix Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 3:48 pm
Years ago I was at a meeting when Elmhurst Stone Company had a quarry that DuPage wanted to buy for flood control. For years the quarry always fought the assessed value saying it was just a hole in the ground that was becoming less valuable as it was quarried. Now they wanted lots more money. I asked well you said it was only worth X and that is what it is assessed as so the county should give you X. I was then told the assessed valuation. Is not what it is worth by the quarry and DuPage officials. My introduction to DuPage politics. County board member ended up working for quarry

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 4:16 pm
Is the power plant still operating at a profit? What will prevent it from declaring bankruptcy and leaving a big mess for taxpayers to clean up? The property might end up with a negative value.

Comment by DuPage Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 4:22 pm
(I was referring to that power company, not Elmhurst Stone).

Comment by DuPage Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 4:26 pm
It’d be great if we had more equitable funding for schools in Illinois so that districts like this wouldn’t be so dependent on one entity but the last ballot initiative to address this was soundly defeated.

Comment by Proud Papa Bear Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 5:54 pm
How we pay for schools is simply dumb

Comment by Lurker Tuesday, May 23, 23 @ 7:25 pm