Willow Springs board approves ordinance to address incorrect tax bill for Willow Glen property

The Village of Willow Springs board on Oct. 2 approved Ordinance 2024-O-16 to address an apparent county miscalculation of a tax bill for a property in the Willow Glen development.

President Nedimier said the county clerk had calculated the tax bill for the parcel incorrectly and that, under the proposed ordinance, the village would acknowledge the mistake and enter into an agreement to forward any excess tax receipts back to the property owner. "We have 1 action item before us. That is action 2 of the ordinance 2024-O-16, which is important to the ... levy for the special service area number 1, for the 1 year of 2023," Nedimier said while introducing the item.

The treasurer confirmed the practical steps the measure establishes: "I think you explained it really well. It's just we're agreeing to promptly repay any overage that is, forwarded on to us," the treasurer said, adding that the county will place payments in the special service fund and any overage would be refunded to the property owner.

An unnamed trustee described the ordinance as the statutory mechanism to create the proper tax levy if the county clerk does not re-calculate, and offered illustrative figures during discussion; the transcript contains garbled numeric references and does not provide a clear, contemporaneous dollar total.

The board moved and seconded the ordinance and then took a voice/roll-call vote. The transcript records "Aye" votes from Trustee Ara, Trustee Kennedy and Trustee Moon; the audio/transcript does not unambiguously record each trustee's individual vote for the remaining members. The presiding officer declared the motion carried.

The ordinance directs the village to accept the corrected levy treatment for Special Service Area No. 1 for tax year 2023 and establishes that any excess funds received from the county as a result of the miscalculation will be forwarded to the affected taxpayer. The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.