(70 ILCS 3010/11a) (from Ch. 42, par. 319.11a)
Sec. 11a.
The board of trustees of any sanitary district shall have
full power at any time to contract with the corporate authorities of the
municipality or municipalities situated either wholly or partly within
that sanitary district for the treatment and disposal of the sewage of
that municipality or municipalities, and for the use of the drains,
conduits, treatment plants, pumping plants, and works maintained by that
sanitary district for the carrying off, disposal, and treatment of
sewage and industrial wastes, in lieu of charging the inhabitants of
that municipality or municipalities. The corporate authorities so
contracting shall adopt an ordinance imposing rules and regulations with
respect to the use of sewers within that municipality and provide for a
charge to the inhabitants thereof for the use thereof and for the
payment of the charge to be paid to the sanitary district under that
contract. Such contracts shall be irrevocable as long as any revenue
bonds of the sanitary district are outstanding, but the charge to be
paid to the sanitary district shall be payable only from the revenue
derived by the municipalities from the charges made to the inhabitants
thereof.
The charges and rates fixed by the corporate authorities shall be
sufficient at all times to pay the charge to be paid to the sanitary
districts. Such charges or rates shall be liens upon the real estate
upon or for which sewerage service is supplied; provided, however, such
liens shall not attach to such real estate until such charges or rates
have become delinquent as provided by the ordinance of the municipality
fixing a delinquency date. A lien is created under the preceding
sentence only if the sanitary district sends to the owner or owners of record
of the real estate, as referenced by the taxpayer's identification number, (i)
a copy of each delinquency notice sent to the person who is delinquent in
paying the charges or rates or other notice sufficient to inform the owner or
owners of record, as referenced by the taxpayer's identification number,
that the charges or rates have become delinquent and
(ii) a notice that unpaid charges or rates may create a lien on the real
estate under this Section. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to give
the municipality a preference over the rights of any purchaser, mortgagee,
judgment creditor or other lien holder arising prior to the filing in the
office of the recorder of the county in which such real estate is located, or
in the office of the registrar of titles of such county if the property
affected is registered under "An Act concerning land titles", approved May 1,
1897, as amended, of notice of the lien. The notice shall consist of a sworn
statement setting out (1) a description of the real estate, sufficient for the
identification thereof, upon or for which the sewerage service was supplied,
(2) the amount or amounts of money due for such sewerage service, and (3) the
date or dates when such amount or amounts became delinquent. The sanitary
district shall send a copy of the notice of the lien to the owner or owners of
record of the real estate, as referenced by the taxpayer's identification
number. The municipality shall have the power to foreclose such lien in like
manner and with like effect as in the foreclosure of mortgages on real estate.
The municipality also has the power, from time to time, to sue the
occupant or user of the real estate in a civil action to recover the
money due for sewerage services, plus a reasonable attorney's fee, to be
fixed by the court. However, when a judgment is obtained in such a
civil action, the foregoing provisions in this section with respect to
filing sworn statements of such delinquencies in the office of the
recorder and creating a lien against the real estate shall not
be effective as to charges sued upon and no lien shall exist thereafter
against the real estate for that delinquency. Judgment in such a civil
action operates as a release and waiver of the lien upon the real estate
for the amount of the judgment.
Such contract may contain appropriate provisions to authorize the
sanitary district to proceed, in the name of the municipality, in the
collection of such charges and rates as are provided in this section, in
the event that the municipality fails to pay when due the charge to be
paid to the sanitary district. Any sanitary district, by a civil
action, may compel the officials of the municipality to perform all
duties imposed upon them by this section, including the making and
collection of sufficient charges and rates for that purpose and the
application of the revenue therefrom.
(Source: P.A. 87-1197.)
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