Public Act 90-0697 of the 90th General Assembly
Public Act 90-0697
HB2553 Enrolled LRB9008938MWgc
AN ACT concerning sanitary districts, amending named
Acts.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Sanitary District Act of 1917 is amended
by changing Sections 19.1, 23.5, and 25 as follows:
(70 ILCS 2405/19.1) (from Ch. 42, par. 317a.1)
Sec. 19.1. Special service areas.
(a) A sanitary district organized under this Act may
provide special services limited to the construction,
maintenance, alteration, and extension of the district's
drains, sewers, laterals, and other necessary adjuncts,
including pumps and pumping stations, in any special service
area within the district. The district may levy a tax to
provide those special services or to provide for the payment
of debt incurred to provide those special services in
accordance with this Act.
(b) The manner of providing special services and of
levying the tax authorized by subsection (a) shall be as
provided in this Section.
(c) "Special Service Area" means a contiguous area
within a district in which special governmental services are
provided in addition to those services provided generally
throughout the district, the cost of those special services
to be paid from revenues collected from taxes levied or
imposed upon property within that area. Territory is
contiguous for purposes of this Section even though certain
completely surrounded portions of the territory are excluded
from the special service area. A district may create a
special service area within a municipality or municipalities
when the municipality or municipalities consent to the
creation of the special service area. A district may create a
special service area within the unincorporated area of a
county when the county consents to the creation of the
special service area.
(d) The corporate authorities of the district shall be
the governing body of the special service area.
(e) Taxes may be levied or imposed by the district in
the special service area at a rate or amount of tax
sufficient to produce revenues required to provide the
special services. Before the first levy of taxes in the
special service area, notice shall be given and hearing shall
be held under the provisions of subsections (f) and (g). For
purposes of this subsection the notice shall include:
(1) the time and place of hearing;
(2) the boundaries of the area by legal description
and by street location, where possible;
(3) a notification that all interested persons,
including all persons owning taxable real property
located within the special service area, will be given an
opportunity to be heard at the hearing regarding the tax
levy and an opportunity to file objections to the amount
of the tax levy if the tax is a tax upon their property;
and
(4) the maximum rate of taxes to be extended in any
year and may include a maximum number of years the taxes
will be levied.
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 possible;
(3) a notification that all interested persons,
including all persons owning taxable real property
located within the special service area, will be given an
opportunity to be heard at the hearing regarding the
issuance of such bonds and an opportunity to file
objections to the issuance of such bonds; and
(4) the maximum amount of bonds proposed to be
issued, the maximum period of time over which the bonds
shall be retired, and the maximum interest rate the bonds
shall bear.
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.
The lien and foreclosure remedies provided in Article 9 of
the Illinois Municipal Code, as now or hereafter amended,
shall apply upon nonpayment of such special 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. 88-670, eff. 12-2-94.)
(70 ILCS 2405/23.5) (from Ch. 42, par. 317e.5)
Sec. 23.5. Any sanitary district may annex any territory
which is not within the corporate limits of the sanitary
district but which is contiguous to it and is served by the
sanitary district or by a municipality with sanitary sewers
that are connected and served by the sanitary district by the
passage of an ordinance to that effect by the board of
trustees, describing the territory to be annexed. A copy of
the ordinance with an accurate map of the annexed territory,
certified as correct by the clerk of the district shall be
filed with the county clerk of the county in which the
annexed territory is located. For purposes of this Act, a
property is served by a sanitary district if a sewer that is
part of the sanitary district's sewer system, part of the
sewer system of a municipality that is connected to the
sanitary district, or part of any other sewer system that
connects to and is served by the sanitary district has been
extended to, across, or along the property, whether or not
the buildings on the property are physically connected to the
sewer.
Territory that is not contiguous to a sanitary district
but is separated from the sanitary district by only a forest
preserve district may be annexed to the sanitary district
under this Section. The territory included within the forest
preserve district shall not be annexed to the sanitary
district and shall not be subject to rights-of-way for
access or services between the parts of the sanitary district
separated by the forest preserve district without the
approval of the governing body of the forest preserve
district.
(Source: P.A. 86-296.)
(70 ILCS 2405/25) (from Ch. 42, par. 317g)
Sec. 25. The board of trustees of any sanitary district
may arrange to provide for the benefit of employees and
trustees of the sanitary district group life, health,
accident, hospital and medical insurance, or any one or any
combination of such types of insurance. The Board of
trustees may also elect to self insure the district's
employees. In the event the board arranges to provide
insurance, such insurance may include provision for employees
and trustees who rely on treatment by prayer or spiritual
means alone for healing in accordance with the tenets and
practice of a well recognized religious denomination. The
board of trustees may provide for payment by the sanitary
district of the premium or charge for such insurance.
If the board of trustees elects to do not provide the
insurance, but does not provide for a plan pursuant to which
the sanitary district pays the premium or charge for any
group insurance plan, the board of trustees may provide for
the withholding and deducting from the compensation of such
of the employees and trustees as consent thereto the premium
or charge for any group life, health, accident, hospital and
medical insurance.
If the board of trustees elects to provide insurance
under the provisions of this Section, it may exercise the
powers granted in this Section only if the kinds of such
group insurance are obtained from any insurance company
authorized to do business in the State of Illinois, or any
non-profit hospital service corporation organized under the
provisions of the Non-Profit Hospital Service Plan Act, as
heretofore and hereafter amended, or incorporated under the
provisions of the Medical Service Plan Act, as heretofore and
hereafter amended, or any other for-profit or not-for-profit
organization or service offering similar coverage including
without limitation, hospitals, clinics, health maintenance
organizations, and physicians' groups. The board of trustees
may enact an ordinance prescribing the method of operation of
the such insurance or self-insurance program and for entering
into contracts with for-profit and not-for-profit
organizations or services providing health care services.
(Source: Laws 1963, p. 2755.)
Section 10. The Sanitary District Act of 1936 is amended
by changing Section 27.1 as follows:
(70 ILCS 2805/27.1) (from Ch. 42, par. 438.1)
Sec. 27.1. Special service areas.
(a) A sanitary district organized under this Act may
provide special services limited to the construction,
maintenance, alteration, and extension of the district's
drains, sewers, laterals, and other necessary adjuncts,
including pumps and pumping stations, in any special service
area within the district. The district may levy a tax to
provide those special services or to provide for the payment
of debt incurred to provide those special services in
accordance with this Act.
(b) The manner of providing special services and of
levying the tax authorized by subsection (a) shall be as
provided in this Section.
(c) "Special Service Area" means a contiguous area
within a district in which special governmental services are
provided in addition to those services provided generally
throughout the district, the cost of those special services
to be paid from revenues collected from taxes levied or
imposed upon property within that area. Territory is
"contiguous" for purposes of this Section even though certain
completely surrounded portions of the territory are excluded
from the special service area. A district may create a
special service area within a municipality or municipalities
when the municipality or municipalities consent to the
creation of the special service area. A district may create a
special service area within the unincorporated area of a
county when the county consents to the creation of the
special service area.
(d) The corporate authorities of the district shall be
the governing body of the special service area.
(e) Taxes may be levied or imposed by the district in
the special service area at a rate or amount of tax
sufficient to produce revenues required to provide the
special services. Before the first levy of taxes in the
special service area, notice shall be given and hearing shall
be held under the provisions of subsections (f) and (g). For
purposes of this subsection the notice shall include:
(1) the time and place of hearing;
(2) the boundaries of the area by legal description
and by street location, where possible;
(3) a notification that all interested persons,
including all persons owning taxable real property
located within the special service area, will be given an
opportunity to be heard at the hearing regarding the tax
levy and an opportunity to file objections to the amount
of the tax levy if the tax is a tax upon their property;
and
(4) the maximum rate of taxes to be extended in any
year and may include a maximum number of years the taxes
will be levied.
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 those 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 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 possible;
(3) a notification that all interested persons,
including all persons owning taxable real property
located within the special service area, will be given an
opportunity to be heard at the hearing regarding the
issuance of the bonds and an opportunity to file
objections to the issuance of the bonds; and
(4) the maximum amount of bonds proposed to be
issued, the maximum period of time over which the bonds
shall be retired, and the maximum interest rate the bonds
shall bear.
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 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 area, the enlargement of the area, 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 area 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 the
territory sought to be disconnected and recite as a fact
that, as of the date the petition is filed, the territory was
not, is not, and is not intended by the corporate authority
that 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 the
territory constitutes less than 1.5% 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 (i) shall refer to the
petition filed with the court, (ii) shall describe the
territory proposed to be disconnected, (iii) shall indicate
the prayer of the petition and the date, time, and place at
which the public hearing will be held, and (iv) shall further
indicate that the corporate authority that 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 the 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 the corporate
authority that created the special service area and all
persons residing in or owning property in the territory
involved or in the special service area from which the
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
that created the special service area from which the
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 a manner
that 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 Act. 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 that 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 (i) an explanation of the method of
spreading the special tax, (ii) a list of lots, blocks,
tracts, and parcels of land in the special service area, and
(iii) the amount assessed against each. The special tax roll
shall be included in the ordinance establishing the special
service area or in an amendment to that ordinance, and shall
be filed with the county clerk for use in extending the tax.
The lien and foreclosure remedies provided in Article 9 of
the Illinois Municipal Code shall apply upon nonpayment of
the special 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. 88-670, eff. 12-2-94.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.