Kendall County Times

Rep. Keith Wheeler (R-North Aurora) recently made a successful push for Senate Bill 3737, a measure that would replace a property tax with a facilities fee.

"This is an initiative of Kendall County in their efforts to keep property taxes at a minimum," Wheeler said from the House floor on April 9. "They are offering just a facilities fee instead of a property tax levy. They've worked through all angles here to try and make this so that all waivers can apply for low-income issues and to address those fees."

SB 3737 passed the House 72 to 17 and the Senate 34 to 10. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Linda Holmes (D-Aurora), Sue Rezin (R-Morris), and Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Plainfield). Wheeler sponsored it in the House.

The bill was sent to the Governor's desk for his signature. It amends the Counties Code to provide that the county boards of three counties -- Kane, Kendall, and Will – may impose a judicial facilities fee to be used for the building of new judicial facilities instead of a tax levy.

The bill lays out that in setting a judicial facilities fee, the county board must set the fee and design and construct the facilities with the concurrence of the chief judge of the county or judicial circuit.