Phil Beckman
Daily Egyptian
The city of Carbondale suffered a setback in its effort to recover state funds lost because of mistakes in the 2000 census when an appeals court ruled against the city on July 10.
The Illinois Appellate Court for the 5th District in Mt. Vernon issued a ruling reversing a decision by the Jackson County Circuit Court that had ordered the State of Illinois to place the tax money in an escrow account until the Census Bureau corrected its count of Carbondale's population.
Carbondale City Manager Jeff Doherty said he was disappointed by the appellate court's decision.
"The city's attorneys feel the appeals court didn't deal with the real issues of the case," Doherty said.
Carbondale City Attorney Paige Reed said the appellate court decided that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction because the state was protected by sovereign immunity from being sued by the city on this issue.
She said the state can be sued for some claims, but it must be done through the Illinois Court of Claims.
The census figures released on March 15, 2001, set Carbondale's population at 20,681. But the city challenged this figure and initiated an appeals process through the U.S. Census Bureau to have the number recalculated. In May 2002, the Census Bureau notified the city that they revised the population number to 25,033.
It turned out that 4,832 students living in SIUC campus housing had been placed in Murphysboro when the information was entered into a database.
The state disburses money every month collected by income taxes and the motor fuel tax to cities around Illinois based upon population. With the error in the census count, Carbondale would have received less money.
In order to make sure that they would not lose the money, Carbondale sued the state of Illinois in the Jackson County Circuit Court to prevent the state from disbursing the funds the city would receive if the mistake had not been made. The court issued an injunction July 17, 2001, in the city's favor ordering the state to place the funds into an escrow account.
The state complied with the injunction but appealed the decision.
Doherty said the escrow account contains about $420,000 that accrued between August 2001, when the state began using the incorrect census figures, and May 2002, when the new population figures went into effect.
The Carbondale City Council has until the end of July to decide whether to take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Reed said the city must file an affidavit with the appellate court stating the intention to appeal to the Supreme Court by July 31 and must initiate the appeal by Aug. 14.
"We have been wronged," Doherty said, "and there must be a remedy providing for a correction to be made."
Reporter Phil Beckman can be reached at
pbeckman@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
