Illinois Code § 7.6

§ 7.6.

Rates for treatment and disposal of sewage and surface or ground water. The board of trustees shall have the authority by ordinance to establish, revise, and maintain rates or charges for the treatment and disposal of sewage and surface or ground water. Any user charge, industrial waste surcharge, connection fee or connection-related fee, or industrial cost recovery charge imposed by the sanitary district, together with all penalties, interest, and costs imposed in connection therewith, shall be liens against the real estate which receives the service or benefit for which the charges are being imposed; 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 sanitary district and provided further, that nothing in this Section shall be construed to give the sanitary district 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 real estate is located of notice of the lien, which notice shall consist of a sworn statement setting out (1) a description of the real estate for which the service or the benefit was rendered sufficient to identify the real estate, (2) the amount or amounts of money due for such service or benefit, and (3) the date or dates when such amount or amounts became delinquent. The sanitary district shall have the power to foreclose such lien in the same manner and with the same effect as in the foreclosure of mortgages on real estate. The payment of connection fees or connection-related fees by the user or any other interested party is a condition for the continued connection of the real property or any structure thereon. The sanitary district shall have the authority to terminate all connections and service to any real property or structure thereon if any connection fee or connection-related fee is not paid within 60 days from the date such payment is due by the user or any other party that has an interest or subsequently acquires an interest in the property. The assertion of liens against real estate by the sanitary district to secure payment of user charges, industrial waste surcharges, connection fee or connection-related fee, or industrial cost recovery charges imposed by the sanitary district as indicated in the previous paragraph shall be in addition to any other remedy or right of recovery which the sanitary district may have with respect to the collection or recovery of such charges imposed by the sanitary district. Judgment in a civil action brought by the sanitary district to recover or collect such charges shall not operate as a release and waiver of the lien upon the real estate for the amount of the judgment. Only satisfaction of the judgment or the filing of a release or satisfaction of lien shall release said lien. The lien for charges on account of services or benefits provided for in this Section and the rights created hereunder shall be in addition to the lien upon real estate created by and imposed for general real estate taxes. (Source: P.A. 101-575, eff. 8-23-19.)