(65 ILCS 5/11-42-11.05)
Sec. 11-42-11.05. Municipal franchise fee review; requests for information.
(a) If pursuant to its franchise agreement with a community antenna television system (CATV) operator, a municipality imposes a franchise fee authorized by 47 U.S.C. 542, then the municipality may conduct an audit of that CATV operator's franchise fees derived from the provision of cable and video services to subscribers within the franchise area to determine whether the amount of franchise fees paid by that CATV operator to the municipality was accurate. Any audit conducted under this subsection (a) shall determine any overpayment or underpayment to the municipality by the CATV operator, and the amount due to the municipality or CATV operator is limited to the net difference.
(b) Not more than once every 2 years, a municipality that has imposed a franchise fee authorized by 47 U.S.C. 542 may, subject to the limitations and protections stated in the Local Government Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act, request information from the CATV operator in the format maintained by the CATV operator in the ordinary course of its business that the municipality reasonably requires in order to perform an audit under subsection (a). The information that may be requested by the municipality includes without limitation the following:
(1) in an electronic format used by the CATV operator
in the ordinary course of its business, the database used by the CATV operator to determine the amount of the franchise fee due to the municipality; and
(2) in a format used by the CATV operator in the
ordinary course of its business, summary data, as needed by the municipality, to determine the CATV operator's franchise fees derived from the provision of cable and video services to subscribers within the CATV operator's franchise area.
(c) The CATV operator must provide the information requested under subsection (b) within:
(1) 60 days after the receipt of the request if the
population of the requesting municipality is 500,000 or less; or
(2) 90 days after the receipt of the request if the
population of the requesting municipality exceeds 500,000.
The time in which a CATV operator must provide the information requested under subsection (b) may be extended by an agreement between the municipality and the CATV operator.
(d) If an audit by the municipality or its agents finds an error by the CATV operator in the amount of the franchise fees paid by the CATV operator to the municipality, then the municipality may notify the CATV operator of the error. Any such notice must be given to the CATV operator by the municipality within 90 days after the municipality discovers the error, and no later than 4 years after the date the franchise fee was due. Upon such a notice, the CATV operator must submit a written response within 60 days after receipt of the notice stating that the CATV operator has corrected the error on a prospective basis or stating the reason that the error is inapplicable or inaccurate. The municipality then has 60 days after the receipt of the CATV operator's response to review and contest the conclusion of the CATV operator. No legal proceeding to collect a deficiency based upon an alleged error shall be commenced unless within 180 days after the municipality's notification of the error to the CATV operator the parties are unable to agree on the disposition of the audit findings.
(e) No CATV operator is liable for any error in past franchise fee payments that was unknown by the CATV operator prior to the audit process unless (i) the error was due to negligence on the part of the CATV operator in the collection or processing of required data and (ii) the municipality had not failed to respond in writing in a timely manner to any written request of the CATV operator to review and correct information used by the CATV operator to calculate the appropriate franchise fees if a diligent review of such information by the municipality reasonably could have been expected to discover such error.
(f) All account specific information provided by a CATV operator under this Section may be used only for the purpose of an audit conducted under this Section and the enforcement of any franchise fee delinquent claim. All such information must be held in strict confidence by the municipality and its agents and may not be disclosed to the public under the Freedom of Information Act or under any other similar statutes allowing for or requiring public disclosure.
(g) For the purposes of this Section, "CATV operator" means a person or entity that provides cable and video services under a franchise agreement with a municipality pursuant to Section 11-42-11 of the Municipal Code and a holder authorized under Section 21-401 of the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007 as consistent with Section 21-901 of that Law.
(h) This Section does not apply to any action that was commenced, to any complaint that was filed, or to any audit that was commenced before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly. This Section also does not apply to any franchise agreement that was entered into before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly unless the franchise agreement contains audit provisions but no specifics regarding audit procedures.
(i) The provisions of this Section shall not be construed as diminishing or replacing any civil remedy available to a municipality, taxpayer, or tax collector.
(j) If a contingent fee is paid to an auditor, then the payment must be based upon the net difference of the complete audit.
(k) Within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, a municipality shall provide to any CATV operator a complete list of addresses within the corporate limits of the municipality and shall annually update the list.
(l) This Section is a denial and limitation of home rule powers and functions under subsection (h) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.
(m) This Section does not apply to any municipality having a population of more than 1,000,000.
(Source: P.A. 96-1422, eff. 8-3-10.)
Sections: Previous 11-42-8a 11-42-8b 11-42-9 11-42-10 11-42-10.1 11-42-10.2 11-42-11 11-42-11.05 11-42-11.1 11-42-11.2 11-42-12 11-42-13 11-42-14 11-42-15 11-42.1-1 Next
Last modified: February 18, 2015