After the first levy, taxes may be extended against the special
service area for the services specified without additional hearings,
provided the taxes shall not exceed the rate specified in the notice
and, if a maximum number of years is specified in the notice, the taxes
shall not be extended for a longer period. Tax rates may be increased
and the period specified may be extended, provided notice is given and
new public hearings are held in accordance with subsections (f) and (g).
(f) Before or within 60 days after the adoption of the ordinance proposing
the establishment of a special service area, the district shall fix a time and
a place for a public hearing. Notice of the hearing shall be given by
publication and mailing. Notice by publication shall be given by publication at
least once not less than 15 days before the hearing in a newspaper of general
circulation within the district. Notice by mailing shall be given by depositing
the notice in the United States mails addressed to the person or persons in
whose name the general taxes for the last preceding year were paid on each lot,
block, tract or parcel of land lying within the special service area. The
notice shall be mailed not less than 10 days before the time set for the public
hearing. In the event taxes for the last preceding year were not paid, the
notice shall be sent to the person last listed on the tax rolls before that
year as the owner of the property.
(g) At the public hearing any interested person, including all persons
owning taxable real property located within the proposed special service area,
may file with the district clerk written objections to and may be heard orally
in respect to any issues embodied in the notice. The district shall hear and
determine all protests and objections at the hearing, and the hearing may be
adjourned to another date without further notice other than a motion to be
entered upon the minutes fixing the time and place of its adjournment. At the
public hearing or at the first regular meeting of the corporate authorities
thereafter, the district may delete area from the special service area, except
that the special service area must still be a contiguous area as provided in
subsection (c).
(h) Bonds secured by the full faith and credit of the area included in the
special service area may be issued for providing the special services.
Bonds, when so issued, shall be retired by the levy of taxes, in addition to
the taxes specified in subsection (e), against all of the taxable real property
included in the area as provided in the ordinance authorizing the issuance of
the bonds or by the imposition of another tax within the special service area.
The county clerk shall annually extend taxes against all of the taxable
property situated in the county and contained in the special service area in
amounts sufficient to pay maturing principal and interest of such bonds without
limitation as to rate or amount and in addition to and in excess of any taxes
that may now or hereafter be authorized to be levied by the district. Before
the issuance of such bonds, notice shall be given and a hearing shall be held
under the provisions of subsections (f) and (g). For purposes of this
subsection a notice shall include:
(1) the time and place of hearing;
(2) the boundaries of the area by legal description and by street location, where
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The question of the creation of a special service area, the levy or
imposition of a tax in the special service area, and the issuance of bonds for
providing special services may all be considered together at one hearing.
Any bonds issued shall not exceed the number of bonds, the interest rate,
and the period of extension set forth in the notice, unless an additional
hearing is held. No bonds issued under this Section shall be regarded as
indebtedness of the district for the purpose of any limitation imposed by any
law.
(i) Boundaries of a special service area may be enlarged, but only after
hearing and notice as provided in subsections (f) and (g), the notice to be
served in the original area of the special service area and in any areas
proposed to be added to the special service area, except where the property
being added represents less than 5% of the assessed valuation of the entire
original area, as determined by the clerk of the county wherein the land
is located, then the notice by mailing requirement of subsection (f) shall be
limited only to the area to be added and not to the original special service
area. The property added to the area shall be subject to all taxes levied
therein after that property becomes a part of the area and shall become
additional security for bonded indebtedness outstanding at the time the
property is added to the area.
(j) If a petition signed by at least 51% of the electors residing within
the special service area and by at least 51% of the owners of record of
the land included within the boundaries of the special service area is
filed with the district clerk within 60 days following the final adjournment of
the public hearing objecting to the creation of the special service district,
the enlargement thereof, the levy or imposition of a tax or the issuance of
bonds for the provision of special services to the area, or to a proposed
increase in the tax rate, no such district may be created or enlarged, no such
tax may be levied or imposed nor the rate increased, or no such bonds may be
issued. The subject matter of the petition shall not be proposed relative to
any signatories of the petition within the next 2 years. Each resident of the
special service area registered to vote at the time of the public hearing held
with regard to the special service area shall be considered an elector. Each
person in whose name legal title to land included within the boundaries of the
special service area is held according to the records of the county wherein the
land is located shall be considered an owner of record. Owners of record shall
be determined at the time of the public hearing held with regard to a special
service area. Land owned in the name of a land trust, corporation, estate, or
partnership shall be considered to have a single owner of record.
(k) Any territory located within the boundaries of any special service area
organized under this Section may become disconnected from the area in the
manner provided in this subsection. A majority of the resident electors and a
majority of the record owners of land in the territory sought to be
disconnected from the area may sign a petition. The petition shall be
addressed to the circuit court and shall contain a definite description of the
boundaries of such territory and recite as a fact that, as of the date the
petition is filed, such territory was not, is not, and is not intended by the
corporate authority which created the special service area to be either
benefited or served by any work or services either then existing or then
authorized by the special service area, and that such territory constitutes
less than 1 1/2% of the special service area's total equalized assessed
valuation.
Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall set the petition for public
hearing within 60 days after the date of the filing of the petition. The
court shall give at least 45 days notice of the hearing by publishing notice
of the hearing once in a newspaper having a general circulation within the
special service area from which the territory is sought to be disconnected.
The notice (1) shall refer to the petition filed with the court, (2) shall
describe the territory proposed to be disconnected, (3) shall indicate the
prayer of the petition and the date, time and place at which the public hearing
will be held and (4) shall further indicate that the corporate authority which
created the special service area and any persons residing in or owning property
in the territory involved or in the special service area from which such
territory is sought to be disconnected shall have an opportunity to be heard on
the prayer of the petition. Notice of the filing of the petition, the
substance of which shall be as prescribed for the published notice, shall also
be mailed to the presiding officer of the corporate authority from which the
territory is sought to be disconnected.
The public hearing may be continued from time to time by the court. After
the public hearing and having heard all persons desiring to be heard, including
such corporate authority and all persons residing in or owning property in the
territory involved or in the special service area from which such territory is
sought to be disconnected, if the court finds that all the allegations of the
petition are true, the court shall grant the prayer of the petition and shall
enter an order disconnecting the territory from the special service area, which
order shall be entered at length in the records of the court, and the clerk of
the court shall file a certified copy of the order with the clerk of the
district which created the special service area from which such territory has
been disconnected. If the court finds that the allegations contained in the
petition are not true, then the court shall enter an order dismissing the
petition.
Any disconnected territory shall cease to be subject to any taxes levied
under this Section and shall not be security for any future bonded
indebtedness. When the amount of any taxes levied by a special service area is
cancelled due to disconnection of territory, the court may, in the same
disconnection proceeding, distribute the cancelled amount upon the other
property in the area assessed, in such manner as the court finds just and
equitable, not exceeding, however, the amount by which such property will
benefit from the special service.
(l) If a property tax is levied, the tax shall be extended by the county
clerk in the special service area in the manner provided by the Property Tax
Code based on assessed
values as established under that Code. In that case, the district
shall file a
certified copy of the ordinance creating the special service area, including an
accurate map of the area, with the county clerk. The corporate authorities of
the district are authorized to levy taxes in the special service area for the
same year in which the ordinance and map are filed with the county clerk. In
addition, the corporate authorities shall file a certified copy of each
ordinance levying taxes in the special service area on or before the third
Tuesday of September of each year and shall file a certified copy of any
ordinance authorizing the issuance of bonds and providing for a property tax
levy in that ordinance by December 31 of the year of the first levy.
Instead of or in addition to such property tax, a special tax may be
levied and extended within the special service area on any other basis that
provides a rational relationship between the amount of the tax levied
against each lot, block, tract and parcel of land in the special service
area and the special service benefit rendered; a special tax roll shall be
prepared containing: (1) an explanation of the method of spreading the
special tax, (2) a list of lots, blocks, tracts and parcels of land in
the special service area and (3) the amount assessed against each. The
special tax roll shall be included in the ordinance establishing the
special service area or in an amendment thereto, and shall be filed with
the county clerk for use in extending the tax.
(m) An ordinance establishing a special service area shall not take effect
until a certified copy of the ordinance, containing a description of the
territory of the area, is filed for record in the office of the recorder in
each county in which any part of the area is located.
(Source: P.A. 90-697, eff. 8-7-98.)
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