(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,
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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. 95-114, eff. 1-1-08.)
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