The state's high court will review a case regarding the constitutionality of hospital tax exemptions, and will hear arguments involving Urbana's Carle Foundation Hospital. A lower court ruled in January that the 2012 state law allowing hospitals to avoid paying property taxes is unconstitutional.
The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to delay the implementation of a lower court ruling on hospital property taxes, while it considers whether it will hear an appeal from Carle. That means Carle and Presence Covenant hospitals in Urbana likely won’t have to pay more than 10-million dollars that the state says they owe this year.
The 4th District Appellate Court Monday denied requests for a stay of the ruling that threw out a state law that denied property tax exemptions to Illinois hospitals based on their charity care. Those requests were sought by the Carle health system and Illinois Department of Revenue. Carle and Presence Hospitals may file a lawsuit as a result.
The Champaign County Board of Review is leaving properties owned by Urbana's two hospitals on the property tax rolls, for now. But an attorney representing both the Carle health system and Presence Covenant says the 3-member panel shouldn't make this decision without 'waiting for the legal dust to clear.'
The Illinois Attorney General's office wants the 4th District Appellate Court to delay enforcement of the January 5 ruling which found a 2012 state law involving tax exemptions for hospitals that provide charity care to be unconstitutional. The motion for a stay was filed with the appelate court on January 28. Carle is appealing last month's ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.
