SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A bill introduced by state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights, which would increase the amount of money that municipalities receive from the state passed out of the House Cities and Villages Committee with unanimous bipartisan support on Wednesday.
“Often I hear stories about how high property taxes are forcing people out of their homes,” DeLuca said. “This bill gives local governments greater ability to meet the needs of their residents without passing along an increase in property taxes year-after-year.”
DeLuca’s House bill 158 would bring the level of funding to municipalities back to 10 percent. In 2011, the amount that municipalities received from the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) was reduced from 10 to 6 percent. This bill simply seeks to restore the previous rate of funding, making it easier for communities to fund the necessary services and amenities for residents.
“The result of this legislation will be that local governments will be less reliant on homeowners to fund important services, like police and fire protection, street repairs and snow removal,” DeLuca said. “My hope is that this common sense measure helps local units of governments reduce everyone’s property tax bills in the future.”
For more information, contact DeLuca’s constituent service office at 708-754-7900 or repdeluca@sbcglobal.net.
