75 ILCS 16/15-85

(75 ILCS 16/15-85)

Sec. 15-85. Automatic disconnection from district.

(a) Any territory within a public library district that is or has been annexed to a municipality (where that municipality maintains a public library) is, by operation of law, disconnected from the public library district as of the January first next after the territory is annexed.

(a-5) If at anytime prior to, on, or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the City of Springfield, Illinois, annexes territory within the Chatham Area Public Library District, or any successor thereto, for the development and construction of the proposed Hunter Lake to serve as an additional water supply for the City of Springfield and under subsection (a) that territory is disconnected from the Chatham Area Public Library District, then all remaining territory of the Chatham Area Public Library District is nevertheless deemed contiguous for the purposes of this Act. The remaining territory continues to be a part of the Chatham Area Public Library District or any successor thereto.

(b) A disconnection by operation of law under this Section does not occur if, within 60 days after the annexation, the public library district files with the appropriate circuit court a petition alleging that the disconnection will cause the territory remaining in the district to be noncontiguous or that the loss of assessed valuation by reason of the disconnection will impair the ability of the district to render fully adequate library service to the territory remaining in the district.

(c) When a petition is filed under subsection (b), the court shall set it for hearing. At the hearing, the district has the burden of proving the truth of the allegations in its petition. In determining whether to grant the petition, the court may consider at least the following factors:

(i) whether disconnection will cause the territory remaining in the district to be noncontiguous;

(ii) whether the loss of assessed valuation by reason of the disconnection will impair the ability of the district to render fully adequate library service to the territory remaining in the district;

(iii) the convenience of the residents of the annexed territory and whether a plan exists enabling the residents of the annexed territory to use either the public library district facilities or the library facilities of the city, village, or incorporated town to which the territory has been annexed; and

(iv) whether the city, village, or incorporated town has annexed any other territory within the district within the preceding 2 years and the cumulative effect of those annexations on the financial viability of the district.

The Court may consider comments by the Illinois State Library, the annexing municipality and its public library, and the library system or systems to which the affected libraries belong. This does not create a right of intervention in these parties.

(d) After the hearing, the Court may grant the relief it deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, any of the following: (i) denial of the disconnection; (ii) disconnection of the territory from the public library district; (iii) disconnection of the territory from the public library district in parts over a specific period of time not to exceed 5 years; (iv) court approval of a voluntary agreement between the parties that provides for the sharing of real estate tax revenues from the annexed territory for a limited period of time not to exceed 5 years unless extended by mutual agreement of the parties; or (v) submission of the question of disconnection of the territory to the electors of the annexed territory at a referendum to be held at the next general election in accordance with the general election law. The proposition at such a referendum shall be in substantially the following form:

Shall (describe annexed territory) be disconnected from (name of public library district)?

If a referendum is held, the result of the election shall be entered of record in the Court. If a majority of votes cast upon the question in the annexed territory are for disconnection of the annexed territory from the public library district, the territory shall be disconnected from the public library district.

(e) If there are any general obligation bonds of the public library district outstanding and unpaid at the time the territory is disconnected from the public library district by operation of this Section, the disconnected territory shall remain liable for its proportionate share of that bonded indebtedness, and the public library district may continue to levy and extend taxes upon the taxable property in the territory for the purpose of amortizing the bonds until sufficient funds to retire the bonds have been collected.

(f) The county clerk must extend taxes to pay the principal of and interest on any general obligation bonds issued to refund any bond described in subsection (e), as provided in the bond ordinances on file in the office of the county clerk, against all taxable property in the district, including taxable property that was in the district on the date that the bonds being refunded were issued; provided, however, that (i) the net interest rate on the refunding bonds may not exceed the net interest rate on the refunded bonds, (ii) the final maturity date of the refunding bonds may not extend beyond the final maturity date of the refunded bonds, and (iii) the debt service payable on the refunding bonds in any year may not exceed the debt service that would have been payable on the refunded bonds in that year. This subsection is inoperative after June 30, 2002.

(Source: P.A. 96-249, eff. 8-11-09.)