Public Act 095-0197
 
HB0310 Enrolled LRB095 05363 HLH 25449 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 Counties Code is amended by changing Section
5-1005 as follows:
 
    (55 ILCS 5/5-1005)  (from Ch. 34, par. 5-1005)
    Sec. 5-1005. Powers. Each county shall have power:
    1. To purchase and hold the real and personal estate
necessary for the uses of the county, and to purchase and hold,
for the benefit of the county, real estate sold by virtue of
judicial proceedings in which the county is plaintiff.
    2. To sell and convey or lease any real or personal estate
owned by the county.
    3. To make all contracts and do all other acts in relation
to the property and concerns of the county necessary to the
exercise of its corporate powers.
    4. To take all necessary measures and institute proceedings
to enforce all laws for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
    5. To purchase and hold or lease real estate upon which may
be erected and maintained buildings to be utilized for purposes
of agricultural experiments and to purchase, hold and use
personal property for the care and maintenance of such real
estate in connection with such experimental purposes.
    6. To cause to be erected, or otherwise provided, suitable
buildings for, and maintain a county hospital and necessary
branch hospitals and/or a county sheltered care home or county
nursing home for the care of such sick, chronically ill or
infirm persons as may by law be proper charges upon the county,
or upon other governmental units, and to provide for the
management of the same. The county board may establish rates to
be paid by persons seeking care and treatment in such hospital
or home in accordance with their financial ability to meet such
charges, either personally or through a hospital plan or
hospital insurance, and the rates to be paid by governmental
units, including the State, for the care of sick, chronically
ill or infirm persons admitted therein upon the request of such
governmental units. Any hospital maintained by a county under
this Section is authorized to provide any service and enter
into any contract or other arrangement not prohibited for a
hospital that is licensed under the Hospital Licensing Act,
incorporated under the General Not-For-Profit Corporation Act,
and exempt from taxation under paragraph (3) of subsection (c)
of Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code.
    7. To contribute such sums of money toward erecting,
building, maintaining, and supporting any non-sectarian public
hospital located within its limits as the county board of the
county shall deem proper.
    8. To purchase and hold real estate for the preservation of
forests, prairies and other natural areas and to maintain and
regulate the use thereof.
    9. To purchase and hold real estate for the purpose of
preserving historical spots in the county, to restore, maintain
and regulate the use thereof and to donate any historical spot
to the State.
    10. To appropriate funds from the county treasury to be
used in any manner to be determined by the board for the
suppression, eradication and control of tuberculosis among
domestic cattle in such county.
    11. To take all necessary measures to prevent forest fires
and encourage the maintenance and planting of trees and the
preservation of forests.
    12. To authorize the closing on Saturday mornings of all
offices of all county officers at the county seat of each
county, and to otherwise regulate and fix the days and the
hours of opening and closing of such offices, except when the
days and the hours of opening and closing of the office of any
county officer are otherwise fixed by law; but the power herein
conferred shall not apply to the office of State's Attorney and
the offices of judges and clerks of courts and, in counties of
500,000 or more population, the offices of county clerk.
    13. To provide for the conservation, preservation and
propagation of insectivorous birds through the expenditure of
funds provided for such purpose.
    14. To appropriate funds from the county treasury and
expend the same for care and treatment of tuberculosis
residents.
    15. In counties having less than 1,000,000 inhabitants, to
take all necessary or proper steps for the extermination of
mosquitoes, flies or other insects within the county.
    16. To install an adequate system of accounts and financial
records in the offices and divisions of the county, suitable to
the needs of the office and in accordance with generally
accepted principles of accounting for governmental bodies,
which system may include such reports as the county board may
determine.
    17. To purchase and hold real estate for the construction
and maintenance of motor vehicle parking facilities for persons
using county buildings, but the purchase and use of such real
estate shall not be for revenue producing purposes.
    18. To acquire and hold title to real property located
within the county, or partly within and partly outside the
county by dedication, purchase, gift, legacy or lease, for park
and recreational purposes and to charge reasonable fees for the
use of or admission to any such park or recreational area and
to provide police protection for such park or recreational
area. Personnel employed to provide such police protection
shall be conservators of the peace within such park or
recreational area and shall have power to make arrests on view
of the offense or upon warrants for violation of any of the
ordinances governing such park or recreational area or for any
breach of the peace in the same manner as the police in
municipalities organized and existing under the general laws of
the State. All such real property outside the county shall be
contiguous to the county and within the boundaries of the State
of Illinois.
    19. To appropriate funds from the county treasury to be
used to provide supportive social services designed to prevent
the unnecessary institutionalization of elderly residents, or,
for operation of, and equipment for, senior citizen centers
providing social services to elderly residents.
    20. To appropriate funds from the county treasury and loan
such funds to a county water commission created under the
"Water Commission Act", approved June 30, 1984, as now or
hereafter amended, in such amounts and upon such terms as the
county may determine or the county and the commission may
agree. The county shall not under any circumstances be
obligated to make such loans. The county shall not be required
to charge interest on any such loans.
    21. To appropriate and expend funds from the county
treasury for economic development purposes, including the
making of grants to any other governmental entity or commercial
enterprise deemed necessary or desirable for the promotion of
economic development in the county.
    All contracts for the purchase of coal under this Section
shall be subject to the provisions of "An Act concerning the
use of Illinois mined coal in certain plants and institutions",
filed July 13, 1937, as amended.
(Source: P.A. 86-962; 86-1028.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.