(55 ILCS 5/6‑14001) (from Ch. 34, par. 6‑14001)
Sec. 6‑14001. Judgments rendered in suits commenced prior to December 31, 1959. The County Board of any County having a population of less than 250,000 inhabitants and in which a Public Building Commission authorized by the "Public Building Commission Act", approved July 5, 1955, as now or hereafter amended, does not exist, by resolution may authorize the issuance of funding bonds not to exceed $600,000 to fund any judgment or judgments which have been or may be rendered in suits commenced prior to December 31, 1959, against said County for indebtedness duly audited and allowed prior to such date and which are unpaid, and to pay which no funds are available.
The resolution authorizing the issuance of the funding bonds herein authorized shall prescribe the date, maturity, rate of interest (which shall not exceed the maximum rate authorized by the Bond Authorization Act, as amended at the time of the making of the contract, payable semi‑annually), place of payment, and may provide that the bonds may be registerable as to principal and other details necessary and incident to the legal issuance thereof. Said resolution shall also authorize and direct the levy of an annual tax against the taxable property of said County sufficient to pay the interest and principal of said bonds as it matures, in accordance with the provisions of said resolution, which tax shall be included within the rate limitation prescribed for county corporate purposes, and shall not be in addition thereto and in excess thereof. Such tax shall be extended at the same time and in the same manner as other taxes levied for county purposes, except that if a general reduction in levies is required to keep the maximum for corporate purposes within the statutory rate limitation the tax levy provided for herein shall not be reduced. Said tax shall be collected in the same manner as is provided for the collection of other taxes, and when collected shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the "Judgment Funding Fund", and used for the payment of the bonds and interest herein authorized.
All such bonds shall be sold to the highest and best responsible bidder, and notice of the time and place bids may be submitted shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county, if there is one, and if none, then in a newspaper of general circulation therein, such notice to be published once each week for three successive weeks, the last publication to be at least one day prior to the time specified in the notice. Any sale of bonds in violation of this Division is void.
The validity of any funding bonds hereby authorized to be issued shall remain unimpaired, although one or more of the officers executing the same shall cease to be such officer or officers before delivery thereof.
Because the bonds herein authorized may be issued only for the purpose of funding valid judgments theretofore rendered against the County by Courts of record, the question of the issuance thereof need not be submitted to the legal voters of the County for approval.
With respect to instruments for the payment of money issued under this Section or its predecessor either before, on, or after the effective date of Public Act 86‑4, it is and always has been the intention of the General Assembly (i) that the Omnibus Bond Acts are and always have been supplementary grants of power to issue instruments in accordance with the Omnibus Bond Acts, regardless of any provision of this Division or "An Act authorizing the issuance of funding bonds by counties to care for unpaid judgments against the county, and providing for a tax levy for their payment", approved July 28, 1941, that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts, (ii) that the provisions of this Section or its predecessor are not a limitation on the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts, and (iii) that instruments issued under this Section or its predecessor within the supplementary authority granted by the Omnibus Bond Acts are not invalid because of any provision of this Division or "An Act authorizing the issuance of funding bonds by counties to care for unpaid judgments against the county, and providing for a tax levy for their payment", approved July 28, 1941, that may appear to be or to have been more restrictive than those Acts.
(Source: P.A. 86‑962; 86‑1028.) |