65 ILCS 5/11-42-11.05
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 65 - MUNICIPALITIES|65 ILCS 5/ - Illinois Municipal Code.|Article 11 - Corporate Powers and Functions

Sec. 11-42-11.05. Municipal franchise fee or service provider 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 or  if  a  community  antenna  television  system  (CATV)  operator  providing  cable  or  video  service  in  that  municipality  is  required  to  pay  the  service  provider  fees  imposed  by  the  Cable  and  Video  Competition  Law  of  2007, then the municipality may conduct an audit of that CATV operator's franchise fees or service provider fees derived from the provision of cable and video services to subscribers within the franchise area to determine whether the amount of franchise fees or service provider fees paid by that CATV operator to the municipality was accurate. Any audit conducted under this subsection (a) shall determine, for a period of not more than 4 years after the date the franchise fees or service provider fees were due, 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 or its agent that is authorized to perform an audit as set forth in subsection (a) of this Section 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 or service provider 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 or service provider 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 written agreement between the municipality or its agent and the CATV operator.(c-5) The  municipality  or  its  agent  must  provide  an  initial  report  of  its  audit  findings  to  the  CATV  operator  no  later  than  90  days  after  the  information  set  forth  in  subsection  (b)  of this Section has  been  provided  by  the  CATV  operator.  This  90-day  timeline  may  be  extended  one  time  by  written  agreement  between  the  municipality  or  its  agents  and  the  CATV  operator.  However,  in  no  event  shall  an  extension  of  time  exceed  90  days.  This  initial  report  of  audit  findings  shall  detail  the  basis  of  its  findings  and  provide,  but  not  be  limited  to,  the  following  information:  (i)  any  overpayments  of  franchise  fees  or  service  provider  fees,  (ii)  any  underpayments  of  franchise  fees  or  service  provider  fees,  (iii)  the complete list of all addresses within the corporate limits of the municipality for which the audit is being conducted, (iv) all  municipal  addresses  that  should  be  included  in  the  CATV  operator's  database  and  attributable  to  that  municipality  for  determination  of  franchise  fees  or  service  provider  fees,  and  (v)   addresses  that  should  not  be  included  in  the  CATV  operator's  database  and  addresses  that  are  not  attributable  to  that  municipality  for  determination  of  franchise  fees  or  service  provider  fees.  Generally  accepted  auditing  standards  shall  be  utilized  by  the  municipality  and  its  agents  in  its  review  of  information  provided  by  the  CATV  operator.(c-10)  In  the  event  that  the  municipality  or  its  agent  does  not  provide  the  initial  report  of  the  audit  findings  to  the  CATV  operator  with  the  timeframes  set  forth  in  subsection  (c-5) of this Section,  then  the  audit  shall  be  deemed  completed  and  to  have  conclusively  found  that  there  was  no  overpayment  or  underpayment  by  the  CATV  operator  for the audit period. Further, the municipality may not thereafter commence or conduct any such audit for the same audit period or for any part of that same audit period.(d) If an audit by the municipality or its agents finds an error by the CATV operator in the amount of the franchise fees or service provider fees paid by the CATV operator to the municipality, then the municipality shall notify the CATV operator of the error. Any such notice must be given to the CATV operator by the municipality or its agent within 90 days after the municipality or its agent discovers the error, and no later than 4 years after the date the franchise fee or service provider 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 or its agent 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 or overpayment 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.Any  legal  proceeding  to  collect  a  deficiency  as  set  forth  in  this subsection  (d)  shall  be  filed  in  the  appropriate  circuit  court.(e) No CATV operator is liable for any error in past franchise fee or service provider 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 or service provider 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 or service provider 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.(f-5)  All  contracts  by  and  between  a  municipality  and  a  third  party  for  the  purposes  of  conducting  an  audit  as  contemplated  in  this  Article  shall  be  disclosed  to  the  public  under  the  Freedom  of  Information  Act  or  under  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.(h-5) The audit procedures set forth in this Section shall be the exclusive audit procedures for: (i) any franchise agreement entered into, amended, or renewed on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly; and (ii) any franchise fee or service provider fee audit of a CATV operator commenced on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly.(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) A municipality shall provide to each CATV operator an updated complete list of addresses within the corporate limits of the municipality annually. In addition, the municipality shall provide a CATV operator the updated address list within 90 days after the date of a written request by the CATV operator.As a prerequisite to performing an audit of a CATV operator's franchise fees or service provider fees derived from the provision of cable and video services to subscribers within the franchise area, a municipality shall provide to a CATV operator the complete list of addresses within the corporate limits of the municipality for each calendar year subject to the audit. If an address is not included in the list or if no list is provided, the CATV operator shall be held harmless for any franchise fee underpayments, including penalty and interest, from situsing errors if it used a reasonable methodology to assign the address or addresses to a municipality.An address list provided by a municipality to a CATV operator shall be maintained as confidential by the CATV operator and shall only be used by the CATV operator for the purposes of determining the situs of any franchise fee or service provider fee.  Any situs issues identified by a CATV provider as a result of the provision of an address list by a municipality to the CATV operator shall first be confirmed in writing to the municipality by the CATV operator prior to the CATV operator making any situs change that may result in a change of allocation of a franchise fee or service provider fee to the municipality.(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. 99-6, eff. 6-29-15; 100-945, eff. 8-17-18.)