(70 ILCS 2605/10.5) (from Ch. 42, par. 329e)
Sec. 10.5.
If after the public hearing the board of trustees of the
sanitary district adopts a resolution to proceed with the construction
or acquisition of the project, the board of trustees has the power to
make and enforce all needful rules and regulations in connection with
the construction, acquisition, improvement, or extension, and with the
management and maintenance of the project to be constructed or acquired.
The board of trustees also has the power to establish the rate or charge
to each user of the sewerage system or drainage system, or improvement
or extension at a rate which will be sufficient to pay the principal and
interest of any bonds, issued to pay the cost thereof, maintenance, and
operation of the system, improvement or extension and to provide an
adequate depreciation fund therefor. Charges or rates shall be
established, revised, and maintained by ordinance and become payable as
the board of trustees may determine by ordinance. Such charges or rates
shall be liens upon the real estate upon or for which sewerage service
or drainage system is supplied; provided, however, such liens shall not
attach to such real estate until such charges or rates have become
delinquent as provided by the ordinance of the sanitary district fixing
a delinquency date. A lien is created under the preceding sentence only if the
sanitary district sends to the owner or owners of record of the real estate, as
referenced by the taxpayer's identification number, (i) a copy of each
delinquency notice sent to the person who is delinquent in paying the charges
or rates or other notice sufficient to inform the owner or owners of record, as
referenced by the taxpayer's identification number, that the charges or rates
have become delinquent and (ii) a notice that unpaid charges or rates may
create a lien on the real estate under this Section. Nothing in this Section
shall be construed to give the sanitary district a preference over the rights
of any purchaser, mortgagee, judgment creditor or other lien holder arising
prior to the filing in the office of the recorder of the county in which real
estate is located, or in the office of the registrar of titles of such county
if the property affected is registered under the Torrens System, of notice of
said lien. The notice shall constitute a sworn statement setting out (1) a
description of the real estate sufficient for the identification thereof, upon
or for which the sewerage service or drainage system was supplied, (2) the
amount or amounts of money due for such sewerage or drainage service, and (3)
the date or dates when such amount or amounts became delinquent. The sanitary
district shall send a copy of the notice of the lien to the owner or owners of
record of the real estate, as referenced by the taxpayer's identification
number. The sanitary district shall have the power to foreclose such lien in
like manner and with like effect as in the foreclosure of mortgages on real
estate.
The sanitary district also has the power, from time to time, to sue
the occupant or user of the real estate in a civil action to recover the
money due for sewerage or drainage service, plus a reasonable attorney's
fee by the court. However, whenever a judgment is obtained in such a
civil action, the foregoing provision of this section with respect to
filing sworn statements of such delinquencies in the office of the
recorder and creating a lien against the real estate shall not
be effective as to the charges sued upon and no lien shall exist
thereafter against the real estate for that delinquency. Judgment in
such a civil action operates as a release and waiver of the lien upon
the real estate for the amount of the judgment. The charge provided in
this section to be made against each user of an improvement or extension
shall be in addition to the charge, if any, made of all users of the
system, and shall be kept separate and distinct therefrom.
(Source: P.A. 87-1197.)
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