2023 Illinois Compiled Statutes › Chapter 70 - SPECIAL DISTRICTS › 70 ILCS 1205/ - Park District Code. › Article 7 - Local Improvements

(70 ILCS 1205/Art. 7 heading)
ARTICLE SEVEN.  
		LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS
(70 ILCS 1205/7-1) (from Ch. 105, par. 7-1)
Sec. 7-1. 
		
		All park districts shall retain and be vested with all power and
authority contained in an act entitled "An Act to enable park commissioners
or corporate authorities to take, regulate, control and improve public
streets leading to public parks; to pay for the improvement thereof, and in
that behalf to make and collect a special assessment or special tax on
contiguous property," approved April 9, 1879, and "An Act to enable park
commissioners to condemn land in certain cases for the purpose of making
streets selected and taken for boulevards of uniform width and to provide
for the payment of the same", approved June 14, 1887.
(Source: Laws 1951, p. 113.)
(70 ILCS 1205/7-2) (from Ch. 105, par. 7-2)
Sec. 7-2. 
		
		Power is hereby conferred upon any park district to acquire, lay
out, extend, maintain, and improve pleasure driveways and boulevards and to
acquire and improve any and all real estate, lands, riparian estates or
rights, and all other property acquired or needed for any such park,
boulevard, or driveway or for extending, adorning, or maintaining the same
if such land is located within such park district, under the provisions of
Article 9 of the Illinois Municipal Code, as heretofore and hereafter
amended. The Board shall, by resolution, designate the Local Improvement
Act under which it elects to proceed. The same provision shall apply to the
collections of the assessments by installments and for the issuing of bonds
and vouchers therefor as are provided in case of special assessments of
cities and villages in said Article 9 of the Illinois Municipal Code,
except as limited by Sections 7-3 to 7-5 hereof.
(Source: Laws 1961, p. 1398.)
(70 ILCS 1205/7-3) (from Ch. 105, par. 7-3)
Sec. 7-3. 
		
		In the making of any local improvements by a park district and
except as in this section otherwise provided, the powers and duties
provided to be exercised and performed by the respective officers of cities
and villages under Article 9 of the Illinois Municipal Code, as heretofore
and hereafter amended shall be exercised and performed by the
corresponding officers of such park districts, insofar as action by any
such officers is required under the form of local improvement proceeding
the board elects to adopt for the improvement. The board of such district
shall act as the Board of Local Improvements. The superintendent of such
park district or such other official or person as the board may designate
shall act as Superintendent of Special Assessments. The engineer employed
by the board to prepare the plans and specifications for the improvements
shall be the "engineer," or if no such person be employed, then any
qualified engineer designated by the board may so act. The attorney for
said park district shall (unless a special attorney be employed by the
board for such purpose) be the attorney for said Board of Local
Improvements.
The members of said board of local improvements shall act as such
without compensation, and the secretary shall be ex-officio secretary of
said board of local improvements and the treasurer shall perform the duties
of collector of said special assessment and shall be custodian of such
funds which shall be expended only for the improvement for which said
assessment is levied.
(Source: Laws 1961, p. 1398.)
(70 ILCS 1205/7-4) (from Ch. 105, par. 7-4)
Sec. 7-4. 
		
		The word "improvement" as used in this article shall include the
condemnation of property for park or boulevard purposes, or both.
(Source: Laws 1951, p. 113.)
(70 ILCS 1205/7-5) (from Ch. 105, par. 7-5)
Sec. 7-5. 
		
		Any park district may, in the manner hereafter provided, levy an
annual tax not exceeding .025% of the value, as equalized or assessed by
the Department of Revenue, of all the taxable property
in such district, to be known as a public benefit tax, and the fund
arising therefrom shall be known as a public benefit fund and shall be
used solely for the purpose of paying any such amounts that may be
assessed for such public benefit under Section 7-2. No such tax shall be
levied in any park district until the question of levying such tax is
first certified by the board to the proper election officials who shall
submit the proposition at an election in accordance with the general election
law. The proposition shall be submitted to the voters of the district in
substantially the following
form:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Shall a public benefit tax not exceeding
.025% be levied each year on the taxable         YES
property of.... Park District (naming it) as  ----------------
provided in Section 7-5 of "The Park District    NO
Code"?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Notice of the referendum shall be given and the referendum shall be
conducted in the manner provided by the general election law.
If a majority of the votes cast upon the proposition are in favor,
the governing board may levy and collect such tax annually thereafter,
so long as there remains outstanding any assessment against the district
for public benefits under any special assessment proceeding. Should any
assessment be later assessed against the district in a subsequent local
improvement proceeding for public benefits, then the tax may again be
levied so long as the assessment remains unpaid without the necessity of
any additional referendum. Such tax shall be in addition to all other
taxes authorized by law to be levied and collected in such district and
shall not be included in any limitation of rate contained in this code
or any other law, but shall be excluded therefrom, in addition thereto,
and in excess thereof. The tax shall be levied and collected in like
manner as the general taxes for such district. The foregoing limitations
upon tax rates may be increased or decreased according to the referendum
provisions of the General Revenue Law of Illinois.
(Source: P.A. 81-1489; 81-1509.)