(70 ILCS 1605/15)

Sec. 15. Creation of District; referendum.

(a) The governing body of a county may, by resolution, elect to create the Metro-East Park and Recreation District. The Metro-East District shall be established at a referendum on the question of the formation of the District that is submitted to the electors of a county at a regular election and approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question. The governing body must certify the question to the proper election authority, which must submit the question at an election in accordance with the Election Code.

The question must be submitted in substantially the following form:

Shall the Metro-East Park and Recreation District be created for the purposes of improving water quality; increasing park safety; providing neighborhood trails; improving, restoring, and expanding parks; providing expanded public access and access to persons with disabilities to recreational areas; preserving natural lands for wildlife; and maintaining other recreation grounds within the boundaries of the Metro-East Park and Recreation District; and shall (name of county) join any other counties in the Metro-East region that approve the formation of the Metro-East Park and Recreation District, with the authority to impose a Metro-East Park and Recreation District Retailers' Occupation Tax at a rate of one-tenth of 1% upon all persons engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property at retail in the district on gross receipts on the sales made in the course of their business for the purposes stated above, with 50% of the revenue going to the Metro-East Park and Recreation District and 50% of the revenue returned to the county from which the tax was collected?

The votes must be recorded as "Yes" or "No"

In the proposed Metro-East District that consists of only one county, if a majority of the electors in that county voting on the question vote in the affirmative, the Metro-East District may be organized. In the proposed Metro-East District that consists of more than one county, if a majority of the electors in any county proposed for inclusion in the District voting on the question vote in the affirmative, the Metro-East District may be organized and that county may be included in the District.

(b) After the Metro-East District has been created, any county eligible for inclusion in the Metro-East District may join the District after the county submits the question of joining the District to the electors of the county at a regular election. The county board must submit the question to the proper election authority, which must submit the question at an election in accordance with the Election Code.

The question must be submitted in substantially the following form:

Shall (name of county) join the Metro-East Park and Recreation District with the authority to impose a Metro-East Park and Recreation District Retailers' Occupation Tax at a rate of one-tenth of 1% upon all persons engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property at retail in the district on gross receipts on the sales made in the course of their business, with 50% of the revenue going to the Metro-East Park and Recreation District and 50% of the revenue returned to the county from which the tax was collected?

The votes must be recorded as "Yes" or "No".

If a majority of the electors voting on the question vote in the affirmative, the county shall be included in the District.

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)