DeLuca Passes Reform of the Municipal Audit of Public Utilities Process
DeLuca Passes Reform of the Municipal Audit of Public Utilities Process (Chicago Heights, IL) — State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights, passed a good government measure Wednesday that will help to resolve and prevent auditing discrepancies between utility companies and municipalities that are owed tax dollars through remittance.
“This is a negotiated plan that will bring needed transparency and clear up issues between municipalities and the utilities that serve their communities,” DeLuca said. “It removes barriers that have prevented local governments from receiving resources they are owed and brings additional accountability for everyone involved.”
DeLuca’s Senate Bill 1794 addresses concerns from municipalities that are owed thousands or millions from utility companies due to errors in tax remittance. Under current practice, when a municipality levies a local tax on utilities – such as phone or electric – the utility collects the tax via a consumer’s monthly bill and then distributes the money to applicable municipalities. In recent years, discrepancies between utilities and municipalities – such as possessing different addresses of applicable residences and businesses – has prevented tax dollars from reaching the appropriate government body.
Senate Bill 1794 will help address this issue by:
- Enabling better communication between municipalities and utility companies,
- Extending the statute of limitations so that local governments can more effectively reclaim taxes from utilities,
- Increasing transparency in the auditing process by enabling more frequent audits,
- Putting penalties in place to ensure utilities provide requested information or remit taxes owed to municipalities.
“We don’t want local governments wasting resources through attorneys and other court-related matters on this problem any longer,” DeLuca said. “Moving forward, this measure is going to eliminate a lot of unnecessary problems and benefit communities across our state.”
Senate Bill 1794 passed without opposition and now heads to the Senate for consideration.
DeLuca Passes Reform of the Municipal Audit of Public Utilities Process
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