Public Act 0622 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB0587 Enrolled LRB096 06649 RLJ 16733 b

Public Act 096-0622

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 Sections 5-1005 and 5-1006.5 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.

22. To lease space on a telecommunications tower to a public or private entity.

23. In counties having a population of 100,000 or less and a public building commission organized by the county seat of the county, to cause to be erected or otherwise provided, and to maintain or cause to be maintained, suitable facilities to house students pursuing a post-secondary education at an academic institution located within the county. The county may provide for the management of the facilities.

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. 95-197, eff. 8-16-07; 95-813, eff. 1-1-09.)

(55 ILCS 5/5-1006.5)

Sec. 5-1006.5. Special County Retailers' Occupation Tax For Public Safety, Public Facilities, or Transportation.

(a) The county board of any county may impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property, other than personal property titled or registered with an agency of this State's government, at retail in the county on the gross receipts from the sales made in the course of business to provide revenue to be used exclusively for public safety, public facility, or transportation purposes in that county, if a proposition for the tax has been submitted to the electors of that county and approved by a majority of those voting on the question. If imposed, this tax shall be imposed only in one-quarter percent increments. By resolution, the county board may order the proposition to be submitted at any election. If the tax is imposed for transportation purposes for expenditures for public highways or as authorized under the Illinois Highway Code, the county board must publish notice of the existence of its long-range highway transportation plan as required or described in Section 5-301 of the Illinois Highway Code and must make the plan publicly available prior to approval of the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax. If the tax is imposed for transportation purposes for expenditures for passenger rail transportation, the county board must publish notice of the existence of its long-range passenger rail transportation plan and must make the plan publicly available prior to approval of the ordinance or resolution imposing the tax.

If a tax is imposed for public facilities purposes, then the name of the project may be included in the proposition at the discretion of the county board as determined in the enabling resolution. For example, the "XXX Nursing Home" or the "YYY Museum".

The county clerk shall certify the question to the proper election authority, who shall submit the proposition at an election in accordance with the general election law.

(1) The proposition for public safety purposes shall be in substantially the following form:

"To pay for public safety purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate)?"

As additional information on the ballot below the question shall appear the following:

"This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail."

The county board may also opt to establish a sunset provision at which time the additional sales tax would cease being collected, if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board. If the county board votes to include a sunset provision, the proposition for public safety purposes shall be in substantially the following form:

"To pay for public safety purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate) for a period not to exceed (insert number of years)?"

As additional information on the ballot below the question shall appear the following:

"This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail. If imposed, the additional tax would cease being collected at the end of (insert number of years), if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board."

For the purposes of the paragraph, "public safety purposes" means crime prevention, detention, fire fighting, police, medical, ambulance, or other emergency services.

Votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No".

(2) The proposition for transportation purposes shall be in substantially the following form:

"To pay for improvements to roads and other transportation purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate)?"

As additional information on the ballot below the question shall appear the following:

"This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail."

The county board may also opt to establish a sunset provision at which time the additional sales tax would cease being collected, if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board. If the county board votes to include a sunset provision, the proposition for transportation purposes shall be in substantially the following form:

"To pay for road improvements and other transportation purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate) for a period not to exceed (insert number of years)?"

As additional information on the ballot below the question shall appear the following:

"This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail. If imposed, the additional tax would cease being collected at the end of (insert number of years), if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board."

For the purposes of this paragraph, transportation purposes means construction, maintenance, operation, and improvement of public highways, any other purpose for which a county may expend funds under the Illinois Highway Code, and passenger rail transportation.

The votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No".

(3) The proposition for public facilities facility purposes shall be in substantially the following form:

"To pay for public facilities facility purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate)?"

As additional information on the ballot below the question shall appear the following:

"This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail."

The county board may also opt to establish a sunset provision at which time the additional sales tax would cease being collected, if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board. If the county board votes to include a sunset provision, the proposition for public facilities facility purposes shall be in substantially the following form:

"To pay for public facilities facility purposes, shall (name of county) be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by (insert rate) for a period not to exceed (insert number of years)?"

As additional information on the ballot below the question shall appear the following:

"This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional (insert amount) in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail. If imposed, the additional tax would cease being collected at the end of (insert number of years), if not terminated earlier by a vote of the county board."

For purposes of this Section, "public facilities purposes" means the acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, financing, architectural planning, and installation of capital facilities consisting of buildings, structures, and durable equipment and for the acquisition and improvement of real property and interest in real property required, or expected to be required, in connection with the public facilities, for use by the county for the furnishing of governmental services to its citizens, including but not limited to museums and nursing homes.

The votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No".

If a majority of the electors voting on the proposition vote in favor of it, the county may impose the tax. A county may not submit more than one proposition authorized by this Section to the electors at any one time.

This additional tax may not be imposed on the sales of food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and food which has been prepared for immediate consumption) and prescription and non-prescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes, and needles used by diabetics. The tax imposed by a county under this Section and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident of the tax shall be collected and enforced by the Illinois Department of Revenue and deposited into a special fund created for that purpose. The certificate of registration that is issued by the Department to a retailer under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act shall permit the retailer to engage in a business that is taxable without registering separately with the Department under an ordinance or resolution under this Section. The Department has full power to administer and enforce this Section, to collect all taxes and penalties due under this Section, to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner provided in this Section, and to determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of a tax or penalty under this Section. In the administration of and compliance with this Section, the Department and persons who are subject to this Section shall (i) have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers, and duties, (ii) be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties, and definitions of terms, and (iii) employ the same modes of procedure as are prescribed in Sections 1, 1a, 1a-1, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1i, 1j, 1k, 1m, 1n, 2 through 2-70 (in respect to all provisions contained in those Sections other than the State rate of tax), 2a, 2b, 2c, 3 (except provisions relating to transaction returns and quarter monthly payments), 4, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i, 5j, 5k, 5l, 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11a, 12, and 13 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and Section 3-7 of the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act as if those provisions were set forth in this Section.

Persons subject to any tax imposed under the authority granted in this Section may reimburse themselves for their sellers' tax liability by separately stating the tax as an additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax which sellers are required to collect under the Use Tax Act, pursuant to such bracketed schedules as the Department may prescribe.

Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing a credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State Comptroller, who shall cause the order to be drawn for the amount specified and to the person named in the notification from the Department. The refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the County Public Safety or Transportation Retailers' Occupation Tax Fund.

(b) If a tax has been imposed under subsection (a), a service occupation tax shall also be imposed at the same rate upon all persons engaged, in the county, in the business of making sales of service, who, as an incident to making those sales of service, transfer tangible personal property within the county as an incident to a sale of service. This tax may not be imposed on sales of food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and food prepared for immediate consumption) and prescription and non-prescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes, and needles used by diabetics. The tax imposed under this subsection and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the Department of Revenue. The Department has full power to administer and enforce this subsection; to collect all taxes and penalties due hereunder; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner hereinafter provided; and to determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty hereunder. In the administration of, and compliance with this subsection, the Department and persons who are subject to this paragraph shall (i) have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers, and duties, (ii) be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties, exclusions, exemptions, and definitions of terms, and (iii) employ the same modes of procedure as are prescribed in Sections 2 (except that the reference to State in the definition of supplier maintaining a place of business in this State shall mean the county), 2a, 2b, 2c, 3 through 3-50 (in respect to all provisions therein other than the State rate of tax), 4 (except that the reference to the State shall be to the county), 5, 7, 8 (except that the jurisdiction to which the tax shall be a debt to the extent indicated in that Section 8 shall be the county), 9 (except as to the disposition of taxes and penalties collected), 10, 11, 12 (except the reference therein to Section 2b of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act), 13 (except that any reference to the State shall mean the county), Section 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Service Occupation Tax Act and Section 3-7 of the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, as fully as if those provisions were set forth herein.

Persons subject to any tax imposed under the authority granted in this subsection may reimburse themselves for their serviceman's tax liability by separately stating the tax as an additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax that servicemen are authorized to collect under the Service Use Tax Act, in accordance with such bracket schedules as the Department may prescribe.

Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this subsection to a claimant instead of issuing a credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State Comptroller, who shall cause the warrant to be drawn for the amount specified, and to the person named, in the notification from the Department. The refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the County Public Safety or Transportation Retailers' Occupation Fund.

Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize the county to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any business which under the Constitution of the United States may not be made the subject of taxation by the State.

(c) The Department shall immediately pay over to the State Treasurer, ex officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected under this Section to be deposited into the County Public Safety or Transportation Retailers' Occupation Tax Fund, which shall be an unappropriated trust fund held outside of the State treasury. On or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to the counties from which retailers have paid taxes or penalties to the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to each county, and deposited by the county into its special fund created for the purposes of this Section, shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected under this Section during the second preceding calendar month by the Department plus an amount the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts that were erroneously paid to a different taxing body, and not including (i) an amount equal to the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of the county and (ii) any amount that the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts that were payable to a different taxing body but were erroneously paid to the county. Within 10 days after receipt by the Comptroller of the disbursement certification to the counties provided for in this Section to be given to the Comptroller by the Department, the Comptroller shall cause the orders to be drawn for the respective amounts in accordance with directions contained in the certification.

In addition to the disbursement required by the preceding paragraph, an allocation shall be made in March of each year to each county that received more than $500,000 in disbursements under the preceding paragraph in the preceding calendar year. The allocation shall be in an amount equal to the average monthly distribution made to each such county under the preceding paragraph during the preceding calendar year (excluding the 2 months of highest receipts). The distribution made in March of each year subsequent to the year in which an allocation was made pursuant to this paragraph and the preceding paragraph shall be reduced by the amount allocated and disbursed under this paragraph in the preceding calendar year. The Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller for disbursement the allocations made in accordance with this paragraph.

(d) For the purpose of determining the local governmental unit whose tax is applicable, a retail sale by a producer of coal or another mineral mined in Illinois is a sale at retail at the place where the coal or other mineral mined in Illinois is extracted from the earth. This paragraph does not apply to coal or another mineral when it is delivered or shipped by the seller to the purchaser at a point outside Illinois so that the sale is exempt under the United States Constitution as a sale in interstate or foreign commerce.

(e) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize a county to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any business that under the Constitution of the United States may not be made the subject of taxation by this State.

(e-5) If a county imposes a tax under this Section, the county board may, by ordinance, discontinue or lower the rate of the tax. If the county board lowers the tax rate or discontinues the tax, a referendum must be held in accordance with subsection (a) of this Section in order to increase the rate of the tax or to reimpose the discontinued tax.

(f) Beginning April 1, 1998, the results of any election authorizing a proposition to impose a tax under this Section or effecting a change in the rate of tax, or any ordinance lowering the rate or discontinuing the tax, shall be certified by the county clerk and filed with the Illinois Department of Revenue either (i) on or before the first day of April, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce the tax as of the first day of July next following the filing; or (ii) on or before the first day of October, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce the tax as of the first day of January next following the filing.

(g) When certifying the amount of a monthly disbursement to a county under this Section, the Department shall increase or decrease the amounts by an amount necessary to offset any miscalculation of previous disbursements. The offset amount shall be the amount erroneously disbursed within the previous 6 months from the time a miscalculation is discovered.

(h) This Section may be cited as the "Special County Occupation Tax For Public Safety, Public Facilities, or Transportation Law".

(i) For purposes of this Section, "public safety" includes, but is not limited to, crime prevention, detention, fire fighting, police, medical, ambulance, or other emergency services. For the purposes of this Section, "transportation" includes, but is not limited to, the construction, maintenance, operation, and improvement of public highways, any other purpose for which a county may expend funds under the Illinois Highway Code, and passenger rail transportation. For the purposes of this Section, "public facilities purposes" includes, but is not limited to, the acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, financing, architectural planning, and installation of capital facilities consisting of buildings, structures, and durable equipment and for the acquisition and improvement of real property and interest in real property required, or expected to be required, in connection with the public facilities, for use by the county for the furnishing of governmental services to its citizens, including but not limited to museums and nursing homes.

(j) The Department may promulgate rules to implement this amendatory Act of the 95th General Assembly only to the extent necessary to apply the existing rules for the Special County Retailers' Occupation Tax for Public Safety to this new purpose for public facilities.

(Source: P.A. 94-781, eff. 5-19-06; 95-474, eff. 1-1-08; 95-1002, eff. 11-20-08.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.