ILLINOIS STATE

BAR ASSOCIATION

 

MINUTES

STATE AND LOCAL TAXATION SECTION COUNCIL

Friday, June 20, 2003

The Abbey Resort and Fontana Spa

269 Fontana Boulevard

Fontana, WI 53125

262-275-6811

 

 

 

 

1.                  Call to Order - 9:32 a.m.

 

2.                  Administrative Matters, other Preliminary Matters

 

1.                  The Chairman presented a plaque of recognition to Jim Chipman, the SALT section council's immediate past chairman.   Jim graciously accepted the plaque and thanked all the SALT section council members for the team effort necessary to make the section council as successful as it was.

 

1.                  Approval of minutes from prior meeting - May 23, 2003.  The Chairman noted that the May 23, 2003 Minutes had been distributed and that the section council's positions, on the various revenue bills it had considered, had also been written up and distributed.  The time of adjournment was corrected.  Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Minutes of the May 23, 2003 SALT Meeting, as amended, were approved.

 

2.                  Roster Review.  The Chairman asked those present to review the 2003-04 Section Council Roster for corrections.  The Chairman also noted that a list of Associate Editor members would soon be prepared. 

 

3.                  Section Count.  The Chairman noted a section count of 427 active members.  All members were encouraged to participate in the ISBA's new Add a Member Program.

 

The following members were in attendance at the meeting:

 

 


John K. Norris, Chair

John G. Locallo, Vice-Chair

Rodney C. Slutzky, Secretary

James W. Chipman, Ex-Officio

 

Katherine A. Amari, Louise M. Calvert, Mary Ann Connelly, Karen J. Dimond, Patrick C. Doody, Joanne Elliott, Donald T. Rubin, Jim Rooney, Dan O'Neill, Hon. Alexander P. White,

Steven Kandelman, Mary T. Nicolau, Thomas A. Jaconetty, Timothy E. Moran, William J. Seitz,

and John Truskowski.

 

III.       Legislation - Final Recap

 

The Chairman appointed Don Rubin to chair the Legislative Committee and Louise Calvert and Tim Moran to continue to serve as Legislative Committee Members.  It was suggested that the volume of bills would be substantially less in the next legislative session.

 

Louise Calvert gave a final report on the legislative session, just concluded.  Louise thought that her involvement as former chair was a good experience and she looks forward to working with Don and Tim in the future.

 

IV        Newsletter

 

The Chairman appointed Mary Ann Connelly to continue to serve as Newsletter Editor.  The Chairman's goal is to publish 12 newsletters, the same number published last year.  A list was circulated so that members could sign up for a particular month to have their article(s) published.  Mary Ann advised that all articles had to be submitted one month prior to the publication date.  SALT received special recognition at the ISBA's new leadership meeting for having published 12 newsletters last year.  All newsletters are available on-line at the ISBA website.

 

V.        Continuing Legal Education

 

The Chairman appointed Tim Moran to be the Continuing Legal Education Chair.  Tim passed out a proposed outline for the SALT seminar to be presented October 29, 2003.  It was expected that the proposed outline would be approved later today.  As a departure from past seminars, the program was reduced from two days, to one.  Also, new topics are being introduced which will hopefully, attract more people.  The seminar will be broken down into a morning session, directed at the general practitioner, and an afternoon session, for more specialized practitioners.  Tom Jaconetty has agreed to be a speaker.  A box lunch between sessions will be offered for those interested, which will also give attendees an opportunity to meet the speakers and possibly, allow for an opportunity to ask questions.  It is anticipated that the seminar will be presented at 205 West Wacker Drive in Chicago.  The program is expected to cost ½ as much as previous seminars presented by SALT.


 

 

VI.       Standing Subcommittee Reports

 

1.                  PTAB/Cook County Board of Review.  The Chairman appointed Jay Steinfink to Chair the PTAB/Cook County Board of Review Committee.  Unfortunately, Jay is out of town and could not attend this morning's meeting.

 

2.                  Membership.  The Chairman appointed Katherine Amari to Chair the Membership Committee.  Newly installed President Terry Lavin has put a great deal of emphasis on increasing overall ISBA membership, and will be establishing a new campaign to recruit new members.  All section councils should benefit from the campaign, but all of us must do our part in helping to recruit new members.  It is expected that new member recruitment packages will be distributed by September 1st.  The Chairman announced that in addition to the 15 authorized SALT council members, he has appointed 15 Associate Newsletter Editors.  These 15 Associate Newsletter Editors will be granted full voting privileges and will be added to future membership rosters.  Each Associated Newsletter Editor has agreed to contribute at least one article to the Newsletter.

 

3.                  Case Law.  The Chairman appointed Judge Alexander White to continue to Chair the Case Law Committee.  Judge White's report was temporarily postponed.

 

D.        Unauthorized Practice of Law.  The Chairman appointed Joanne Elliott to serve as the Chair of the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) Committee.  The Chairman, as former Chair of the UPL Committee observed that this will be an important year for this Committee and that UPL will be a big issue for many other section councils.  Christine Ory will head the ISBA Task Force.  A substantial amount of evidence has already been gathered regarding UPL at the Board of Review and at the PTAB.  Joanne, who was extremely helpful in Springfield, in defeating SB620 and SB615, was very excited about the appointment.  Joanne stressed that the Committee's focus was not “turf protection,” but rather, consumer protection.  Please pass along any information you may have about consumers who have been harmed as a result of UPL.  There was some discussion concerning a well known attorney who sent a formal letter to the Cook County Board of Review regard action the Board had taken with respect to complaints filed by an accounting firm.  The Board has turned this matter over to the State's Attorney's office for further response.  It was suggested that Restraint of Trade and Federal Civil Rights will become counter issues in response to allegations of UPL.   Both the Board of Review and the PTAB are taking UPL seriously.  A significant volume of assessment complaints may be involved.

 

 


Deviation from the Agenda

 

Susan Pierson the Executive Director of the Illinois Bar Foundation stopped by the meeting to introduce herself and tell the section council a little about the Illinois Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the ISBA.  Susan distributed the IBF's Annual Report (2002-2003) and membership applications.  For a commitment of $100 per year, one can become a Illinois Bar Foundation Fellow.  Susan reported that there are now more than 1000 IBF Fellows.

 

C.        Case Law.  Judge White's postponed report was given here.  Judge White reported on JM Aviation, a revenue case which involved the standard of review of an Administrative Law Judge's determination.  Since the ALJ's determination was not “clearly erroneous,” the decision was affirmed.  Judge White indicated that this case would be appealed.  Judge White advised the council that Judge Dennis Burke, a new judge in his division, was replacing Judge Chiola, who was transferred to the Law Division.  Also mentioned were pending cases, such as the “Sammy Sosa” case, having to do with multiple taxation of Sammy Sosa's income by variously states, without giving him “appropriate” credits, and the “Meridian Theater Chain” case, having to do with the problem officer responsibility when a corporate taxpayer has no assets and can't pay it tax liability.  Can the officers be held accountable for corporate debt?

 

The Chairman mentioned Dupage County Board of Review v. Department of Revenue, a exemption case involving a church owned residence occupied by a teacher at the church's religious school.  The court denied the exemption because the “use,” a teacher's residence, was not an exempt use specifically authorized by statute.

 

The Chairman also reported on Brazas v. PTAB, a 2nd district case, affirming the assessment of a residential property at 80% of its fair market value, despite the fact that as of January 1st of the tax year, the residence did not have an occupancy permit.  The PTAB ruled that the assessed valuation was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

 

Tom Jaconetty then led a lengthy discussion on the recent decision of the Board of Review, involving a series of under assessment complaints filed by the City of Chicago.  After discussing some of the background, procedural history and major issues of the case, Tom discussed five points contained in the opinion:

 

1.         The Board of Review can determine its own jurisdiction;

2.         The executive order of a home rule municipality can have the force of law;

3.         The City of Chicago's Corporation Counsel has the authority to act on behalf of the City at the Board of Review;


4.         The opinion discusses and summarizes the concept of uniformity.  Although taxing bodies can ask for what they want, they (the parties) are bound by the concept of uniformity; and,

5.         Regarding triennial reassessments, every year is a “year in play,” and therefore, subject to review.

 

The actual assessment results of the specific properties on appeal were discussed.  Tom predicted that the City's success was cost effective, and that as a result, it would do more of these next year and in the years to come.  These interventions by the City will have far reaching ramifications that no one is able to anticipate at this time.  How many properties will be reviewed at the Fairness Board this year?  Perhaps 150?  Who will control this forum?  How will the city resolve its own position on the “equities” and the “fairness” issues?  Time will tell.

 

During the course of this discussion, President Terry Lavin stopped by the meeting and was given the floor.  President Lavin was on a busy schedule and only had time to greet and welcome the SALT Section Council members and mention his upcoming membership drive and his new mentoring program initiative.  Regarding the ISBA Membership Drive, mail solicitations will soon be sent out accompanied by telephone solicitations.  Each member will be encouraged to recruit at least one new member.  President Lavin then told us about some of his personal mentors who encouraged him and helped him to reach this point in his career.  President Lavin observed that there was no shortage of experienced and knowledgeable people able to help out.   He encouraged all of us to become mentors and get involved with this new initiative.  Len Amari and Judge Sheila Murphy will Chair the Mentoring Committee.

 

E.         Exemption Streamlining.  The Chairman appointed Mark Davis to Chair the Exemption Streamlining Committee.  As Mark was unable to attend today's meeting, there was no report.

 

F.         Treasurer's Issues.  The Chairman appointed Bill Seitz to Chair the Treasurer's Issues Committee.  Bill advised the council that the 2003 Scavenger Sale was already on his agenda and that he wanted to continue the dialogue with the Treasurer's Office his committee had begun last year.  Bill asked those interested in becoming involved with the committee to contact him.

 

G.        Strategic Planning.  The Chairman appointed John Locallo to Chair the Strategic Planning Committee.  Jim Chipman and Tim Moran, past Chairs,  gave a brief history of the committee's accomplishments and objectives.

 


H.        Website Development.  The Chairman appointed Mary Ann Connelly to Chair the Website Development Committee. Mary encouraged all council members to log onto the Website and take a look at what is currently available.  If you become aware of a recent case, let Mary know about it so it can be posted on the Website.  If you have any new categories to suggest, or any worthwhile ideas for the Website, let Mary know. 

 

VII.      Liaison Reports

 

A.        ISBA Bar News.  The Chairman announced that Steve Anderson is the editor of the ISBA Bar News.  Although removing himself as the ISBA Bar News Liaison, the Chairman still intends to promote the section council through the ISBA Bar News.  If you are aware of any interesting news or events, let John know and he will pass the information along to Steve Anderson.

 

B.         Attorney General Opinions.  Dan O'Neill reported that there were no recent opinions.

 

C.        IICLE Real Estate Taxation publication.  Tom Jaconetty reported that the last update was a supplement printed in 2001.  The Chairman appointed Tom Jaconetty to be the IICLE Liaison.  It was suggested that IICLE must decide if it would like to publish a completely updated book, or another supplement. Tom agreed to contact IICLE for their decision.  The council recommends a complete re-write to be published in approximately one year.

 

D.        The Chairman will place “Administrative Code” back on future Agendas.

 

E.         Administrative Law Liaison.  The Chairman appointed Tom Battista to be the  Administrative Law Liaison.

 

F.         Local Government.  The Chairman decided that the SALT Section Council should have a Local Government Liaison.  The Chairman then appointed Judge Alexander White as Local Government Liaison.

 

VIII.     Old Business

 

1.                  Status of PTAB Appeals (Bosch and Lurie Cases).  Bill Seitz reported that there is no decision yet.

 

IX.       New Business

 

A.        The Chairman announced details of the upcoming softball game between SALT and the Real Estate Law Section Council.  Baseball caps were generously provided by the Chairman to all section council members and will be passed out at the conclusion of today's meeting. 

 


B.         Katherine Amari announced a Young Lawyer's Division Luncheon to be held on June 26th.  Judges Bertucci and Howse will be in attendance.

 

 

X.        Future Meetings.  The Chairman announced that he intended to continue the policy of his predecessors and hold monthly meetings.  Although a schedule of future meetings has not yet been determined, he thought that lunchtime meetings on Fridays seem to work well.  Several council members commented on how much they enjoyed the special meeting held in Champaign, IL, on the weekend of a Fighting Illini football game.

 

9.                  Adjournment.  Upon Motion duly made and seconded, the meeting adjourned at 11:29 a.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Rodney C. Slutzky, Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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