(70 ILCS 1215/7) (from Ch. 24 1/2, par. 120)
    Sec. 7. All applicants for offices or places in said classified civil service shall be citizens of the United States of America and residents of the State of Illinois for at least one year prior to the beginning date of an examination for an office or place in said classified service and shall be subjected to examination, which shall be public and competitive, with limitations specified in the rules of the Board as to the residence, age, health, habits, moral character and qualifications to perform the duties of the office or place to be filled, which qualifications shall be prescribed in advance of the call for said examination. Such examinations shall be practical in their character, and shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the position to which they seek to be appointed, and may include tests of physical qualifications and health, and when appropriate, of manual skill. No question in any examination shall relate to political or religious opinions or affiliations. The Civil Service Board shall control all examinations and may, whenever an examination is to take place, designate a suitable number of persons to be special examiners, and it shall be the duty of such special examiners to conduct such examination as the Civil Service Board may direct, and to make return and report thereof to said Board; and said Board may at any time substitute any other person in the place of any one so selected; and said Board may itself, at any time, act as such special examiner and without appointing other special examiners. Examinations shall be held only when a vacancy exists, and within a reasonable time thereafter.
    Every applicant who desires to take any civil service examination provided for by this Act shall, at the time of making application, pay to the Fund System a fee, as hereinafter provided, to defray the expenses of such examination. Such fees shall be deposited in the general fund of the Fund System. Fees to be paid shall be determined from the minimum announced salary for the positions to be filled, and shall be as follows:
Minimum salary of less than $1200 annually ..........................................................................$0.50
Minimum salary of $1200 or over and less than $2000 annually
............................................................................................................................................1.00
Minimum salary of $2000 or over and less than $3000 annually
............................................................................................................................................2.00
Minimum salary of $3000 or more annually................................................................................3.00
(Source: P.A. 81-257.)