Public Act 095-0114
 
SB0249 Enrolled LRB095 10656 HLH 30886 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 Water Commission Act of 1985 is amended by
changing Section 2 as follows:
 
    (70 ILCS 3720/2)  (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 252)
    Sec. 2. The General Assembly hereby finds and declares that
it is necessary and in the public interest to help assure a
sufficient and economic supply of a source of water within
those county wide areas of this State where, because of a
growth in population and proximity to large urban centers, the
health, safety and welfare of the residents is threatened by an
ever increasing shortage of a continuing, available and
adequate source and supply of water on an economically
reasonable basis; however, it is not the intent of the General
Assembly to interfere with the power of municipalities to
provide for the retail distribution of water to their residents
or the customers of their water systems. Therefore, in order to
provide for a sufficient and economic supply of water to such
areas, it is hereby declared to be the law of this State that:
    (a) With respect to any water commission constituted
pursuant to Division 135 of the Illinois Municipal Code or
established by operation of law under Public Act 83-1123, as
amended, which water commission includes municipalities which
in the aggregate have within their corporate limits more than
50% of the population of a county (hereinafter referred to as a
"home county"), and such county is contiguous to a county which
has a population in excess of 1,000,000 inhabitants, the
provisions of this Act shall apply. With respect to any such
water commission (hereinafter referred to as a "county water
commission"):
        (i) the terms of all commissioners of such commission
    holding office at the time a water commission becomes a
    county water commission shall terminate 30 days after such
    time and new commissioners shall be appointed as the
    governing board of the county water commission as
    hereinafter provided in subsection (c); and
        (ii) the county water commission shall continue to be a
    body corporate and politic, and shall bear the name of the
    home county but shall be independent from and not a part of
    the county government and shall itself be a political
    subdivision and a unit of local government, and upon
    appointment of the new commissioners as the governing board
    of such water commission as provided in subsection (c),
    such water commission shall remain responsible for the full
    payment of, and shall by operation of law be deemed to have
    assumed and shall pay when due all debts and obligations of
    the commission as the same is constituted and as such debts
    and obligations existed on the date such water commission
    becomes a county water commission and such additional debts
    and obligations as are incurred by such commission after
    such date and prior to the appointment of the new
    commissioners as the governing board of such commission,
    and further shall continue to have and exercise all powers
    and functions and duties of a water commission created
    pursuant to Division 135 of the Illinois Municipal Code, as
    now or hereafter amended, and the county water commission
    may rely on that Division, as modified and supplemented by
    the provisions of this Act, as lawful authority under which
    it may act.
    (b) Any county water commission shall have as its territory
within its corporate limits, subject to taxation for its
purposes, and subject to the powers and limitations as
conferred by this Act, (i) all of the territory of the home
county except that territory located within the corporate
limits of excluded units as hereinafter defined and (ii) also
all of the territory located outside the home county and
included within the corporate limits of an included unit as
hereinafter defined. As used in this Act, "excluded unit" means
a unit of local government having a waterworks system and
having within its corporate limits territory within the home
county and which either, at the time any commission becomes a
county water commission, receives, or has contracted at such
time for the receipt of, more than 25% of the water distributed
by such unit's water system from a source outside of the home
county, or a unit of local government that seeks a change in
status as provided in this Section. As used in this Section,
"included unit" means any unit of local government having a
waterworks system and having within its corporate limits
territory within the home county, which unit of local
government is not an excluded unit. No other water commission
shall be constituted under Division 135 of the Illinois
Municipal Code in any home county after the effective date of
this Act to provide water from any source located outside the
home county. A unit of local government may switch its status
from being an included unit to an excluded unit provided that
(i) it has constructed a water treatment plant prior to
December 31, 2006 to comply with United States Environmental
Protection Agency regulations regarding radium; (ii) it
notifies the commission in writing of its desire to become an
excluded unit; and (iii) it no longer demands future service
from the commission and shall not be reinstated as an included
unit. In the event a unit of local government switches status,
the water commission shall, from any legally available sources,
transfer the sums collected from that unit of local government
for the period of time beginning January 1, 2006 to the date
that this tax is no longer assessed within the affected
excluded unit. The transfer of funds authorized herein shall be
made within 90 days of the effective date of this amendatory
Act of the 95th General Assembly. Except as authorized by a
county water commission, no home county or included unit shall
enter into any new or renew or extend any existing contract,
agreement or other arrangement for the acquisition or sale of
water from any source located outside a home county; provided,
however, that any included unit may contract for a supply of
water in case of a temporary emergency from any other unit of
local government or any entity. In the event that any included
unit elects to serve retail customers outside its corporate
boundaries and to establish rates and charges for such water in
excess of those charged within its corporate boundaries, such
rates and charges shall have a reasonable relationship to the
actual cost of providing and delivering the water; this
provision is declarative of existing law. It is declared to be
the law of this State pursuant to paragraphs (g) and (h) of
Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution that in
any home county, the provisions of this Act and Division 135 of
the Illinois Municipal Code, as modified and supplemented by
this Act and this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly,
constitute a limitation upon the power of any such county and
upon all units of local government (except excluded units)
within such county, including home rule units, limiting to such
county, units of local government and home rule units the power
to acquire, supply or distribute water or to establish any
water commission for such purposes involving water from any
source located outside the home county in a manner other than
as provided or permitted by this Act and Division 135, as
modified and supplemented by this Act, and further constitute
an exercise of exclusive State power with respect to the
acquisition, supply and distribution of water from any source
located outside the home county by any such county and by units
of local government (except excluded units), including home
rule units, within such county and with respect to the
establishment for such purposes of any water commission
therein, which power may not be exercised concurrently by any
unit of local government or home rule unit. Upon the request of
any included unit, a county water commission shall provide such
included unit Lake Michigan water in an amount up to the then
current Department of Transportation allocation of Lake
Michigan water for such included unit.
    With respect to a water commission to which the provisions
of subsection (a) apply, all uninhabited territory that is
owned and solely occupied by such a commission and is located
not within its home county but within a non-home rule
municipality adjacent to its home county shall,
notwithstanding any other provision of law, be disconnected
from that municipality by operation of this Act on the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991, and shall
thereafter no longer be within the territory of the
municipality for any purpose; except that for the purposes of
any statute that requires contiguity of territory, the
territory of the water commission shall be disregarded and the
municipality shall not be deemed to be noncontiguous by virtue
of the disconnection of the water commission territory.
    (c) The governing body of any water commission to which the
provisions of subsection (a) apply shall be a board of
commissioners, each to be appointed within 30 days after the
water commission becomes a county water commission to a term
commencing on such date, as follows:
        (i) one commissioner, who shall serve as chairman, who
    shall be a resident of the home county, to be appointed by
    the chairman of the county board of such county with the
    advice and consent of the county board, provided that
    following the expiration of the term or vacancy of the
    current chairman serving on the effective date of this
    amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, any subsequent
    appointment as chairman shall also be subject to the advice
    and consent of the county water commission;
        (ii) one commissioner from each county board district
    within the home county, to be appointed by the chairman of
    the county board of the home county with the advice and
    consent of the county board; and
        (iii) one commissioner from each county board district
    within the home county, to be appointed by the majority
    vote of the mayors of those included units which are
    municipalities and which have the greatest percentage of
    their respective populations residing within such county
    board district of the home county.
    The mayors of the respective county board districts shall
meet for the purpose of making said respective appointments at
a time and place designated by that mayor in each county board
district of the included unit with the largest population
voting for a commissioner upon not less than 10 days' written
notice to each other mayor entitled to vote.
    The commissioners so appointed shall serve for a term of 6
years, or until their successors have been appointed and have
qualified in the same manner as the original appointments,
except that at the first meeting of such commissioners, (A) the
commissioners first appointed pursuant to paragraph (ii) of
this subsection shall determine publicly by lot 1/3 of their
number to serve for terms of 2 years, 1/3 of their number to
serve for terms of 4 years and 1/3 of their number to serve for
terms of 6 years, any odd number of commissioners so determined
by dividing into thirds to serve 6 year terms, and (B) the
commissioners first appointed pursuant to paragraph (iii) of
this subsection shall determine publicly by lot 1/3 of their
number to serve for terms of 2 years, 1/3 of their number to
serve for terms of 4 years and 1/3 of their number to serve for
terms of 6 years, any odd number of commissioners so determined
by dividing into thirds to serve 6 year terms. The commissioner
first appointed pursuant to paragraph (i) of this subsection,
who shall serve as chairman, shall serve for a term of 6 years.
Any commissioner may be a member of the governing board or an
officer or employee of such county or any unit of local
government within such county. A commissioner is eligible for
reappointment upon the expiration of his term. A vacancy in the
office of a commissioner shall be filled for the balance of the
unexpired term by appointment and qualification as to residency
in the same manner as the original appointment was made. Each
commissioner shall receive the same compensation which shall
not be more than $600 per year, except that no such
commissioner who is a member of the governing board or an
officer or employee of such county or any unit of local
government within such county may receive any compensation for
serving as a commissioner. Each commissioner may be removed by
the appointing authority for any cause for which any other
county or municipal officer may be removed. The county water
commission shall determine its own rules of proceeding. A
quorum shall be a majority of the commissioners then in office.
All ordinances or resolutions shall be passed by not less than
a majority of a quorum. No commissioner or employee of the
commission, no member of the county board or other official
elected within such county, no mayor or president or other
member of the corporate authorities of any unit of local
government within such county, and no employee of such county
or any such unit of local government, shall be interested
directly or indirectly in any contract or job of work or
materials, or the profits thereof, or services to be performed
for or by the commission. A violation of any of the foregoing
provisions of this subsection is a Class C misdemeanor. A
conviction is cause for the removal of a person from his office
or employment.
    (d) Except as provided in subsection (g), subject to the
referendum provided for in subsection (e), a county water
commission may borrow money for corporate purposes on the
credit of the commission, and issue general obligation bonds
therefor, in such amounts and form and on such conditions as it
shall prescribe, but shall not become indebted in any manner or
for any purpose in an amount including existing indebtedness in
the aggregate to exceed 5.75% of the aggregate value of the
taxable property within the territorial boundaries of the
county water commission, as equalized and assessed by the
Department of Revenue and as most recently available at the
time of the issue of said bonds. Before or at the time of
incurring any indebtedness, except as provided in subsection
(g), the commission shall provide for the collection of a
direct annual tax, which shall be unlimited as to rate or
amount, sufficient to pay the interest on such debt as it falls
due and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof at
maturity, which shall be within 40 years after the date of
issue thereof. Such tax shall be levied upon and collected from
all of the taxable property within the territory of the county
water commission. Dissolution of the county water commission
for any reason shall not relieve the taxable property within
such territory of the county water commission from liability
for such tax. The clerk of the commission shall file a
certified copy of the resolution or ordinance by which such
bonds are authorized to be issued and such tax is levied with
the County Clerk of each county in which any of the territory
of the county water commission is located and such filing shall
constitute, without the doing of any other act, full and
complete authority for each such County Clerk to extend such
tax for collection upon all the taxable property within the
territory of the county water commission subject to such tax in
each and every year required sufficient to pay the principal of
and interest on such bonds, as aforesaid, without limit as to
rate or amount, and shall be in addition to and in excess of
all other taxes authorized to be levied by the commission or
any included unit. The general obligation bonds shall be issued
pursuant to an ordinance or resolution and may be issued in one
or more series, and shall bear such date or dates, mature at
such time or times and in any event not more than 40 years from
the date thereof, be sold at such price at private or public
sale as determined by a county water commission, bear interest
at such rate or rates such that the net effective interest rate
received upon the sale of such bonds does not exceed the
maximum rate determined under Section 2 of the Bond
Authorization Act, which rates may be fixed or variable, be in
such denominations, be in such form, either coupon or
registered, carry such conversion, registration, and exchange
privileges, be executed in such manner, be payable in such
medium of payment at such place or places within or without the
State of Illinois, be subject to such terms of redemption, and
contain or be subject to such other terms as the ordinance or
resolution may provide, and shall not be restricted by the
provisions of any other terms of obligations of public agencies
or private persons.
    (e) No issue of general obligation bonds by a county water
commission (except bonds to refund an existing bonded
indebtedness) shall be authorized unless the commission
certifies the proposition of issuing such bonds to the proper
election officials, who shall submit the proposition to the
voters at an election in accordance with the general election
law, and the proposition has been approved by a majority of
those voting on the proposition.
    The proposition shall be in the form provided in Section 5
or shall be substantially in the following form:
-------------------------------------------------------------
  Shall general obligation
  bonds for the purpose of
  (state purpose), in the           YES
  sum of $....(insert amount),  -----------------------------
  be issued by the .........        NO
  (insert corporate name of
  the county water commission)?
-------------------------------------------------------------
    (f) In order to carry out and perform its powers and
functions and duties under the provisions of this Act and
Division 135 of the Illinois Municipal Code, as modified and
supplemented by this Act, the governing body of any county
water commission may by ordinance levy annually upon all
taxable property within its territory a tax at a rate not to
exceed .005% of the value of such property, as equalized or
assessed by the Department of Revenue for the year in which the
levy is made. In addition, any county water commission may by
ordinance levy upon all taxable property within its territory,
for one year only, an additional tax for such purposes at a
rate not to exceed .20% of the value of such property, as
equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue for that
year; provided, however, that such tax may not be levied more
than once in any county water commission.
    (g) Any county water commission shall have the power to
borrow money, subject to the indebtedness limitation provided
in subsection (d), from the home county or included units, in
such amounts and in such terms as agreed by the governing
bodies of the commission and the home county or included units.
    (h) No county water commission constituted pursuant to the
Act shall engage in the retail sale or distribution of water to
residents or customers of any municipality.
    (i) Nothing in the Section requires any municipality to
contract with a county water commission for a supply of water.
    (j) The State of Illinois recognizes that any such contract
for the supply of water executed by a unit of local government
and a county water commission may contain terms and conditions
intended by the parties thereto to be absolute conditions
thereof. The State of Illinois also recognizes that persons may
loan funds to a county water commission (including, without
limitation, the purchase of revenue or general obligation bonds
of such commission) in reliance upon the terms and conditions
of any such contract for the supply of water. Therefore, the
State of Illinois pledges and agrees to those parties and
persons which make loans of funds to a county water commission
that it will not impair or limit the power or ability of a
county water commission or a unit of local government fully to
carry out the financial obligations and obligation to furnish
water pursuant to the terms of any contract for the supply of
water entered into by such county water commission or unit of
local government for the term of such contracts or loans. All
other terms and conditions of such contracts and
intergovernmental agreements shall be binding to the extent
that they are not inconsistent with this amendatory Act of the
93rd General Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 93-226, eff. 7-22-03.)