55 ILCS 5/5-21001

(55 ILCS 5/5-21001) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-21001)

Sec. 5-21001. Establishment and maintenance of county home. In any county which establishes and maintains a county sheltered care home or a county nursing home for the care of infirm or chronically ill persons, as provided in Section 5-1005, the County Board shall have power:

1. To acquire in the name of the county by purchase, grant, gift, or legacy, a suitable tract or tracts of land upon which to erect and maintain the home, and in connection therewith a farm or acreage for the purpose of providing supplies for the home and employment for such patients as are able to work and benefit thereby.

The board shall expend not more than $20,000 for the purchase of any such land or the erection of buildings without a 2/3 vote of all its members in counties of 300,000 or more population, or a favorable vote of at least a majority of all its members in counties under 300,000 population.

2. To receive in the name of the county, gifts and legacies to aid in the erection or maintenance of the home.

3. To appoint a superintendent and all necessary employees for the management and control of the home and to prescribe their compensation and duties.

4. To arrange for physicians' or other health care professionals' services and other medical care for the patients in the home and prescribe the compensation and duties of physicians so designated.

5. To control the admission and discharge of patients in the home.

6. To fix the rate per day, week, or month which it will charge for care and maintenance of the patients. Rates so established may vary according to the amount of care required, but the rates shall be uniform for all persons or agencies purchasing care in the home except rates for persons who are able to purchase their own care may approximate actual cost.

7. To make all rules and regulations for the management of the home and of the patients therein.

8. To make appropriations from the county treasury for the purchase of land and the erection of buildings for the home, and to defray the expenses necessary for the care and maintenance of the home and for providing maintenance, personal care and nursing services to the patients therein, and to cause an amount sufficient for those purposes to be levied upon the taxable property of the counties and collected as other taxes and further providing that in counties with a population of not more than 1,000,000 to levy and collect annually a tax of not to exceed .1% of the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, of all the taxable property in the county for these purposes. The tax shall be in addition to all other taxes which the county is authorized to levy on the aggregate valuation of the property within the county and shall not be included in any limitation of the tax rate upon which taxes are required to be extended, but shall be excluded therefrom and in addition thereto. The tax shall be levied and collected in like manner as the general taxes of the county, and when collected, shall be paid into a special fund in the county treasury and used only as herein authorized. No such tax shall be levied or increased from a rate lower than the maximum rate in any such county until the question of levying such tax has first been submitted to the voters of such county at an election held in such county, and has been approved by a majority of such voters voting thereon. The corporate authorities shall certify the question of levying such tax to the proper election officials, who shall submit the question to the voters at an election held in accordance with the general election law.

The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:

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Shall ........ County be authorized

to levy and collect a tax at a rate not YES

to exceed .1% for the purpose of --------------------

........ (purchasing, maintaining) a NO

county nursing home?

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If a majority of votes cast on the question are in favor, the county shall be authorized to levy the tax.

If the county has levied such tax at a rate lower than the maximum rate set forth in this Section, the county board may increase the rate of the tax, but not to exceed such maximum rate, by certifying the proposition of such increase to the proper election officials for submission to the voters of the county at a regular election in accordance with the general election law. The proposition shall be in substantially the following form:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Shall the maximum rate

of the tax levied by........ YES

County for the purpose of.......

(purchasing, maintaining) a -----------------------------

county nursing home be

increased from........ to NO

........ (not to exceed .1%)

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If a majority of all the votes cast upon the proposition are in favor thereof, the county board may levy the tax at a rate not to exceed the rate set forth in this Section.

9. Upon the vote of a 2/3 majority of all the members of the board, to sell, dispose of or lease for any term, any part of the home properties in such manner and upon such terms as it deems best for the interest of the county, and to make and execute all necessary conveyances thereof in the same manner as other conveyances of real estate may be made by a county. However, if the home was erected after referendum approval by the voters of the county, it shall not be sold or disposed of except after referendum approval thereof by a majority of the voters of the county voting thereon.

If the home was erected after referendum approval by the voters of the county, the county nursing home may be leased upon the vote of a 3/5 majority of all the members of the board.

10. To operate a sheltered care home as a part of a county nursing home provided that a license to do so is obtained pursuant to the Nursing Home Care Act, as amended.

(Source: P.A. 99-581, eff. 1-1-17.)