Public Act 099-0715
 
HB6041 EnrolledLRB099 18398 AWJ 42774 b

    AN ACT concerning local government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Fire Protection District Act is amended by
changing Section 16 as follows:
 
    (70 ILCS 705/16)  (from Ch. 127 1/2, par. 37)
    Sec. 16. In order to facilitate circumstances in which fire
protection may be materially improved by adjustment of
jurisdictional boundaries of adjoining fire protection
districts without impairing the overall provision of fire
protection services in the adjoining districts, territory
Territory included within the limits of any fire protection
district may be disconnected from the district and added to
another district to which the territory is contiguous, in the
manner hereinafter set forth; (1) if the territory would
receive equal or greater benefits from the district to which it
seeks to be transferred; (2) if the transfer will not cause the
territory remaining in the district from which the transfer is
to be made, to be noncontiguous; (3) if the transfer will not
cause a serious injury to the district from which the transfer
is to be made; and, (4) if the trustees of the district to
which the transfer is sought to be made do not file a written
refusal to accept the territory within the time hereinafter
provided.
    Territory disconnected pursuant to this Section shall
remain liable for its proportionate share of the bonded
indebtedness outstanding as of the date of disconnection, if
any, of the district from which it was disconnected and shall
assume a proportionate share of the bonded indebtedness, if
any, of the district to which it is transferred.
    One per cent or more of the legal voters residing within
the limits of the territory proposed to be transferred may file
a petition, in the court of the county where the district to
which it seeks to be transferred is organized, setting forth:
the description of the territory sought to be transferred; that
the territory would receive equal or greater benefits by the
transfer; that the transfer will not cause a serious injury to
the district or districts from which the transfer is proposed
to be made; and the amount of any outstanding bonded
indebtedness against the district or districts in which the
territory is then situated which has been incurred pursuant to
this Act; and praying that the question whether the transfer
shall be made, and whether the voters of such territory shall
remain liable for a proportionate share of the bonded
indebtedness outstanding as of the date of disconnection, if
any, of the district from which it was disconnected and also
assume a proportionate share of the bonded indebtedness, if
any, of the district to which the transfer is to be made, be
submitted to the voters of the entire district from which the
transfer is sought to be made territory sought to be
transferred.
    Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall set a day
for hearing, not less than 2 weeks nor more than 4 weeks from
the filing thereof, and the court, or the circuit clerk or
sheriff upon order of the court, (i) shall give 2 weeks notice
of such hearing in one or more daily or weekly newspapers of
general circulation in the county or in each county wherein the
district or districts from which the territory sought to be
transferred is organized and by posting at least 10 copies of
the notice in conspicuous places in the district or in each of
the districts from which the territory is sought to be
transferred, (ii) shall cause a copy of the notice to be
personally served upon each trustee of the district from which
the transfer is sought to be made, and (iii) in addition shall
cause a copy of the notice to be personally served upon each of
the trustees of the district to which the transfer is sought to
be made at least one week before the date set for the hearing,
and in the notice, or in any accompanying notice to be served
upon the Trustees at the same time, a recital shall be made
stating that the Trustees may at any time prior to the date of
the hearing, or within such additional time as may be granted
by the court upon request in writing filed on or before such
date, file a written refusal to accept the territory as a part
of their district, provided, that such notification need not be
given to the trustees if they file in the proceeding their
written appearances or written consent to a transfer of the
territory to their district. Both the fire protection district
from which the territory seeks to be transferred and the fire
protection district to which the territory seeks to be
transferred are necessary parties in any action to disconnect
under this Section.
    At any time prior to the date set for the hearing, or
within such additional time as may be granted by the court, the
trustees of the district to which the transfer is sought to be
made may file a written refusal to accept the territory as a
part of their district and in case of such refusal the court
shall enter an order dismissing the petition for the transfer.
The trustees may withdraw their refusal at any time prior to
the entry of an order dismissing the petition. In case the
trustees fail to file a written refusal within the time
hereinbefore authorized, they shall be deemed to have consented
to a transfer of the territory to their district, and consent
once given may not be withdrawn without leave of court for good
cause shown. In case of such consent, the court shall proceed
with the matter as herein provided but if the court finds that
any of the conditions herein required for the making of a
transfer do not exist it shall enter an order dismissing the
petition. In taking any action upon the petition the findings
of the court shall be filed of record in the case.
    All property owners in the district from which the transfer
is sought and all persons interested therein, may file
objections, and at the hearing may appear and contest the
transfer and the matters averred in the petition, and both
objectors and petitioners may offer any competent evidence in
regard thereto. In addition, all persons residing in or
interested in any of the property situated in the territory
sought to be transferred shall have an opportunity to be heard
touching the location and boundary of the territory to be voted
upon for such transfer, and may make suggestions regarding the
same. For purposes of this Section, serious injury shall be
found to exist in the district from which the transfer is
sought when a material impairment of the ability to provide
continuing fire protection and related emergency services to
the territory remaining in the district after the transfer may
occur. The court may consider the following, but not limited
to, in its determination as to whether a serious injury may
occur: the financial resources, facilities, and equipment
which will remain in the district; and the financial
obligations, including remaining non-bonded debt of the
district, from which the transfer is sought. A loss of annual
real estate tax revenues by the district from which the
transfer is sought of 25 percent or more by reason of the
disconnection and transfer shall constitute serious injury and
require dismissal of the petition. However, the court is not
precluded from finding serious injury to exist with a lesser
tax revenue loss if it is shown by the preponderance of other
evidence presented to the court that serious injury would
result if the transfer were to occur.
    If the court shall, upon hearing the petition, find that
the territory described in the petition would receive equal or
greater benefits by being so transferred and meet the
conditions hereinbefore set forth, it shall certify to the
proper election officials the question of whether the territory
shall be transferred, and its order, and such officials shall
submit that question at an election in the entire district from
which the transfer is sought to be made in such territory in
accordance with the general election law. The proposition shall
be in substantially the following form:
-------------------------------------------------------------
   For making the transfer from the
 ..... Fire Protection District to the
 ..... Fire Protection District, remaining
 liable for a proportionate share of the
 bonded indebtedness outstanding as of the
 date of disconnection, if any, of the district
 from which disconnection is proposed and also
 assuming a proportionate share of the bonded
 indebtedness, if any, of the district
 to which transfer is proposed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
   Against making the transfer from the
 ..... Fire Protection District to the
 ..... Fire Protection District, remaining
 liable for a proportionate share of the
 bonded indebtedness outstanding as of the
 date of disconnection, if any, of the district
 from which disconnection is proposed and also
 assuming a proportionate share of the bonded
 indebtedness, if any, of  the district
 to which transfer is proposed.
-------------------------------------------------------------
    If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of making
the transfer shall be in favor of the transfer, the territory
shall thenceforth cease to be a part of the fire protection
district or districts to which it has been attached and shall
become an integral part of the fire protection district to
which the transfer shall have been sought and shall be subject
to all the enjoyments and responsibilities of the latter
district. In each case in which a transfer is effected pursuant
to the provisions hereof, the circuit clerk in whose court the
transfer proceedings have been conducted, shall certify copies
of all orders entered in effecting such transfer and file or
send them to the proper county clerk or clerks for filing and
to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
(Source: P.A. 94-806, eff. 1-1-07.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 8/5/2016