70 ILCS 605/5-20 — Illinois Code / Chapter 70 / Act 605 / Section 5-20
Section 5-20
Status: in_force

(70 ILCS 605/5-20) (from Ch. 42, par. 5-20) Sec. 5-20. Annual maintenance assessments - Certificate of levy - Extension of assessment. During the month of November in each year, the commissioners of each district in which an annual maintenance assessment roll has been approved or confirmed shall determine whether it is necessary to collect all or any portion of the annual maintenance assessment for repair and maintenance work or the operation of pumping plants during the ensuing calendar year. If they determine that it is necessary to collect all or a portion of such assessment, then they shall, before the first of December, file with the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the district was organized a certificate of levy, setting forth the amount of money needed by them for the performance of such work during the ensuing year which amount shall in no event exceed the total of the annual maintenance assessment roll as confirmed by the court and, if the amount so levied be less than the total amount which they are authorized to levy, then the percentage which the amount so levied bears to the total amount authorized, which certificate may be in the following form: CERTIFICATE OF LEVY OF ANNUAL MAINTENANCE ASSESSMENT To ...., Clerk of the Circuit Court: The undersigned commissioners of .... Drainage District do hereby certify that they require the sum of .... Dollars, to be levied as an annual maintenance assessment upon the lands and other property and other districts and municipal corporations subject to assessment by the district. Such sum is to be used for the performance of annual maintenance work (and pumping plant operation) during the ensuing calendar year and represents ....% of the total amount of the annual maintenance assessment authorized to be levied by the Circuit Court of this county by its order duly given or made on (insert date). Dated (insert date). ........................ ........................ ........................ Commissioners. The owner of any land or other property which is subject to an annual maintenance assessment may object to the amount levied by the commissioners in any year by filing written objections with the court on or before the 10th day of December following the filing of the certificate of levy. Upon the filing of the objections they shall be presented to the court, which shall fix the date and hour for hearing. The objecting landowner or landowners shall give each of the commissioners at least 3 days notice of the hearing by personal service or by mail which notice shall have attached thereto a copy of the objections filed. The objections shall be heard and determined by the court prior to the 20th day of December. Upon such hearing the court may confirm the levy without change or reduce the levy and confirm the same as so reduced. No appeal shall lie from the order of the court but the objectors shall not be precluded from raising the same objections on the Collector's application for judgment and order of sale for delinquent annual maintenance assessments. If no objections are filed by the 10th day of December or if the court fails to hear and determine the filed objections by the 20th day of December then the certificate of levy shall stand as confirmed without further action by the court. If the amount levied in any year is less than the total amount of the annual maintenance assessment roll, then the individual assessments shall abate proportionately. Upon the confirmation of the levy, whether by order of the court or by the failure of any landowner to file written objections or by the failure of the court to determine objections, the clerk of the circuit court shall, except in the case of those districts which have appointed as their collectors persons other than the county collector, deliver a certified copy of the certificate of levy, together with a certified copy of the order of the court, if any, thereon, to the county clerk, who shall extend the same on the county collector's books in appropriate columns, and the amounts so extended shall be collected at the same time and in the same manner as general taxes and, when so collected, shall be paid over to the district treasurer in the same manner as taxes of municipal corporations. When the district is situated in more than one county, the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the district is organized shall deliver to the county clerk of each of such counties a certified copy of the certificate of levy, together with a certified copy of the order of the court, if any thereon, and the county clerks of such counties shall extend the levy against the portion of the lands and property in the district in his county on the collector's books in his office, as above set forth, and the collection and distribution thereof in that county shall be accomplished in the same manner as in districts situated in a single county. In extending annual maintenance assessments in the county collector's books, when the tracts described in the assessment roll do not coincide with the tracts described in the collector's books but the description in the collector's books includes the description on the assessment roll, then the clerk may include the assessment against the smaller tract with the taxes against the larger tract, but such authority shall be procedural only and shall not be construed to extend the lien of the assessment against the larger tract or upon any land or property other than that against which the assessment was actually confirmed. When the tract described in the assessment roll is larger than the tract described in the collector's book, then the assessment against such tract shall be divided in the collector's books proportionately. In those districts which have appointed as their collectors persons other than the county collector, the clerk shall certify a copy of the certificate of levy and the order of the court, if any, to the district collector, who shall then be charged with the duty of billing and collecting the annual maintenance assessment so levied as in the case of original and additional assessments. In all cases, it shall be the duty of the district collector to collect assessments against other districts and municipal corporations and against property not appearing in the county collector's books. (Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)