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Docket No. 88110-Agenda 23-May 2000.

COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY, Appellant, v.
WILL COUNTY COLLECTOR, Appellee.

Opinion filed May 3, 2001.

JUSTICE McMORROW delivered the opinion of the court:

In 1994, the General Assembly enacted tax rate amendmentsto section 5-1024 of the Counties Code (55 ILCS 5/5-1024 (West1994)) and section 9-107 of the Local Governmental andGovernmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act)(745 ILCS 10/9-107 (West 1994)). The issue presented in thiscase is whether these amendments should be applied to certain taxlevies that were adopted by Will County shortly before theamendments became effective. The appellate court concluded thatthe amendments should be so applied. 305 Ill. App. 3d 819. Forthe reasons that follow, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Section 5-1024 of the Counties Code (55 ILCS 5/5-1024(West 1994)) grants the authority to non-home-rule counties, suchas Will County, to levy property taxes for what is commonlyreferred to as general corporate purposes. Section 5-1024 also setsa limit on the amount of taxes that a county may raise for suchpurposes. This limit is expressed as a rate, specifically, apercentage of the value of taxable property as equalized orassessed by the Department of Revenue. Prior to 1995, the rate atwhich Will County could levy for its general corporate fund (thegeneral corporate rate limitation) was set at $0.25 per $100 ofassessed valuation.

While section 5-1024 authorizes levies for general corporatefunds, various other statutory provisions authorize levies for morespecific purposes. Among these other statutory provisions issection 9-107 of the Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/9-107(West 1994)). Section 9-107 provides that a local public entitymay levy property taxes to cover the cost of insuring or otherwisedefending itself against workers' compensation claims and tortclaims for which the local public entity is liable under the TortImmunity Act.

Section 5-1024 of the Counties Code lists many of the taxesthat a county is statutorily authorized to levy for specific purposesand further provides that these taxes are exempt from the generalcorporate rate limitation. Before 1995, however, taxes for workers'compensation and tort immunity defense funds that wereauthorized by section 9-107 of the Tort Immunity Act were notlisted under section 5-1024 as being exempt from the generalcorporate rate limitation.

In 1993, our appellate court held that, under the then-existinglanguage of section 5-1024 of the Counties Code and section9-107 of the Tort Immunity Act, property taxes levied by a non-home-rule county for tort liability insurance had to be includedwithin the general corporate rate limitation established undersection 5-1024. See In re Application of the Du Page CountyCollector, 243 Ill. App. 3d 823 (1993). Taxes levied for tortliability insurance were held void "to the extent the generalcorporate tax rate would have exceeded the maximum rate [undersection 5-1024] if the liability insurance rate had been included inthe general corporate rate." Du Page County Collector, 243 Ill.App. 3d at 825.

In response to this decision, in January of 1994, House Bill2627 was introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives. Thisbill added language to both section 5-1024 of the Counties Codeand section 9-107 of the Tort Immunity Act which makes it clearthat taxes for workers' compensations funds and tort immunitydefense funds are excluded from the general corporate ratelimitation. House Bill 2627 was passed in the General Assemblyon May 29, 1994. On June 27, 1994, the Governor signed HouseBill 2627 into law as Public Act 88-545 (Act). The effective dateof the Act was January 1, 1995.

On November 17, 1994, approximately six weeks prior to theAct's effective date, Will County adopted its 1994 levies for itscorporate fund, tort immunity insurance fund and workers'compensation fund. After January 1, 1995, the Will County clerkextended these levies against the assessed values of propertywithin the county. The rates of the levies, as certified by thecounty clerk, were $0.25 for the general corporate fund, $0.0223for the workers' compensation fund, and $0.0155 for the tortimmunity insurance fund. The total rate of these three levies was$0.2878 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The plaintiff, Commonwealth Edison Company (Edison), paidthe first installment of its 1994 Will County property taxes on June1, 1995, and the second installment on September 1, 1995. OnNovember 3, 1995, Edison filed a tax objection complaint in thecircuit court of Will County. Citing to Du Page County Collector,243 Ill. App. 3d 823, Edison asserted that Will County's 1994levies for its tort immunity insurance and workers' compensationfunds had to be included within the county's general corporate ratelimitation and, therefore, that Will County had exceeded thecorporate rate limitation of $0.25 by a total of $0.0378 (thecombination of the workers' compensation rate and the tortimmunity insurance rate). Thus, according to Edison, WillCounty's 1994 tax levies for its workers' compensation and tortimmunity insurance funds were illegal and void. The circuit courtsustained Edison's objection. In so doing, the court rejected anargument advanced by defendant, the Will County collector(collector), that the amendments to section 5-1024 and section9-107 enacted by the General Assembly in Public Act 88-545should be applied retroactively to validate the levies.

The appellate court reversed. 305 Ill. App. 3d 819. Theappellate court concluded that the plain language of theamendments to sections 5-1024 and 9-107 indicated that theGeneral Assembly intended the amendments to be applied tolevies adopted prior to January 1, 1995, and, therefore, that theWill County levies were legally valid. The appellate court alsodetermined that, because no vested right was involved, theapplication of the amendments to the levies did not violateEdison's rights under the due process clause of the IllinoisConstitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I,