October 12, 2007
Illinois
Illinois
All wind farms in Illinois now will be assessed in the same manner for property tax purposes.
The Illinois Senate today voted 55-1 to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s partial veto of House Bill 664, which deals mainly with Cook County property tax assessments but also includes provisions on assessing wind farms. The governor’s veto pertained only to the Cook County parts of the legislation.
The House of Representatives last week also overrode the governor’s veto of the bill. The Senate’s identical action today means the entire measure will become law immediately despite Blagojevich’s objections.
To date, wind farms in Illinois have been assessed in different ways, depending on their location. HB664 is meant to end that inconsistency.
Under the new law, a wind farm installed this year will pay a tax of $9,000 per megawatt. That figure would drop slightly each year because of physical depreciation of the wind devices.
The law expires in 2011. Lawmakers said they included that “sunset” date so they could analyze how well the change works.
12 October 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/10/12/senate-overrides-veto-on-wind-farm-tax-legislation/