brought by or against him in any official capacity shall be paid out of the county treasury. § 20. No COMMISSIONS TO BE RETAINED.] The county treasurer shall retain no fees, commissions or other compensation whatsoever, except his salary or other compensation fixed by law, for his services when acting as such county treasurer or in any other official capacity incident to his incumbency of that office. All fees, perquisites and emoluments (above the amount of such salary or other compensation fixed by law) shall be paid into the county treasury. § 21. BANKS NOT TO PAY PROFIT TO TREASURER.] No bank or other depositary holding county moneys deposited therewith by the county treasurer in accordance with the provisions in this Act, or otherwise, and no officer of any such bank depositary, or other person, shall pay to, withhold for the benefit of, or contract in any manner for the payment to such county treasurer, or to any other person for him, of any interest or other fee, perquisite or emolument, on account of the deposit of such county moneys, except such interest as shall be paid to such county treasurer for the benefit of the county. § 22. COUNTY TREASURER NOT TO PROFIT-FALSE STATEMENT FROM DEPOSITARY-PENALTIES.] The making of a personal profit or emolument by the incumbent of the office of county treasurer or by any other county officer out of any county moneys by loaning, depositing or otherwise using or disposing of the same in any manner whatsoever, shall be deemed a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than one nor more than ten years. Any county officer or other person who wilfully violates any provision of this Act, other than that above specified in this section, or who wilfully neglects or refuses to perform any duty imposed upon such person by the terms of this Act, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars for the benefit of the county or be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not more than two years or both. § 23. COUNTIES IN WHICH ACT TO APPLY.] This Act and all of the provisions thereof shall apply in every county of this State now containing, or which may hereafter contain, more than 150,000 inhabitants. § 24. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to the office of or to any county treasurer until the expiration of the term for which the present incumbent of such office has been elected. 25. REPEAL.] All Acts and parts of Acts in any respect in conflict with this Act, or any part thereof, are hereby repealed. § 26. The invalidity of any portion of this Act shall not affect the validity of any other portion thereof, which can be given effect without such invalid part. APPROVED June 29th, 1915. PENSION FUND-COUNTY EMPLOYEES IN COUNTIES OF OVER 150,000. AN ACT to provide for the formation and disbursement of a pension fund in counties having a population of 150,000 or more inhabitants, for the benefit of officers and employees in the service of such counties. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That in counties having a population exceeding 150,000 inhabitants, there shall be created, established and maintained a pension fund for officers and employees who are employed in such counties in accordance with the provisions hereof: Provided, however, that the provisions of this Act shall not apply to temporary or probationary employees nor to any employee who is sixty or more years of age at the time this Act takes effect and who at said time has not been in service of such county for at least ten years. Nor to laborers unless any such laborer shall within six months after this Act shall be in force and effect, or in the event that any such laborer is now in the employ of such county within six months after such laborer shall enter the service of such county give written notice of his election to the board of trustees of said fund of his desire to participate in the benefits hereunder. Said fund shall consist of amounts of two dollars a month retained or deducted by the comptroller of such county from the salaries or wages of each employe and such other sums as are hereinafter referred to: Provided, however, that if the name of any such employe shall not appear upon the pay-roll of the department in which he or she is employed by reason of leave of absence, sickness, lack of work, or any other good and sufficient cause, making a deduction impossible, such employe may retain his or her rights under this Act by paying two dollars each month to the treasurer of such county for the benefit of said fund, during his or her temporary absence from the service. § 2. A board composed of the comptroller and treasurer of said county and three employes elected as hereinafter provided, who shall be residents of such county, shall be and constitute a board of trustees, authorized to carry out the provisions of this Act. Said board shall be known as the Board of Trustees of the Municipal Pension Fund of such county. The three members of said board who are employes shall not hold, during their term of membership on said board, any appointive or elective political offices or positions. One of such persons shall be elected to serve for a term of one year, one for a term of two years, and one for a term of three years, and annually thereafter said employes shall elect one of their number to hold office for a term of three years. When any elective member of said board shall cease to be in the employe of said county, his or her membership in such board shall ipso facto cease. In the event of death, resignation or inability to act of any member of said board elected under the provisions of this Section, the successor of such member shall be elected at a special election, which shall be called by said board and shall be conducted in the same manner as are annual elections hereunder. The comptroller and treasurer of such county shall on or before the first day of October after this Act shall be in force and effect, provide for the election of the three elective members of said board. All subsequent elections shall be held under rules and regulations prescribed by said board of trustees, provided, however, that the second election shall occur one year from the day selected by said comptroller and treasurer for the holding of the first election. §3. The board herein provided for shall hold quarterly meetings on the first Wednesday of July, October, January and April of each year, and special meetings upon the call of the president of said board. On the first Tuesday in October in each year, it shall select one of its members who shall act as president of such board for a period of one year, or until such time as his successor is elected and qualified and shall, on the same day, select one of its members as secretary of said board for a period of one year, or until such time as his successor is elected and qualified. Said board shall issue certificates signed by its president and secretary to the employe entitled thereto, of the amount of money ordered paid to such employe from said fund by said board, which certificate shall state the purpose for which such payment is made; Said board shall also keep a record of the proceedings of all of its meetings, which record shall be a public record, and shall submit semiannually to the board of the county commissioners of such county, a list of persons entitled to payment from the fund herein provided, stating the amount of such payments and for what granted as ordered by such board, which list shall be signed and certified by the treasurer of such county and president of such board; and attested by such treasurer under oath: Provided, that no resolution shall be passed or order made for the payment of money from said fund unless by affirmative vote of a majority of the members of said board. § 4. Said board shall have the power, and it shall be its duty: To authorize all payments from said pension fund pursuant to the provisions of this Act, which shall include all pensions to beneficiaries of said fund, at a rate of fifty dollars per month, and all necessary expenses incurred in the administration of said fund: Provided, that no compensation or emolument shall be paid or allowed to any member of said board for any duty required or performed under this Act and provided further that the chief legal adviser of the president and board of county commissioners of said county shall be the legal adviser of said board of trustees. To hear and determine all applications for pensions under this Act and to suspend the payment of pensions when disability ceases. To audit the accounts pertaining to said fund at least four times in each year. To accept, by gift, grant, bequest or otherwise, any money or property of any kind and use the same for the benefit of said fund. To invest such fund, or any part thereof, in the name of said board, in interest bearing bonds of the United States, of the State of Illinois, or of any county of this State, or of any township or any municipal corporation of the State of Illinois, or any other State, and all such securities shall be deposited with the treasurer of said board and shall be subject to the order of said board; said treasurer shall furnish a good and sufficient bond to said board in an amount to be fixed by said board, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties of said office, and that said treasurer will truly account for all moneys, including the interest thereon, and property of said fund which may come into his hands, and that upon the expiration of his term of office or upon his retirement therefrom he will deliver over to his successor all the moneys, including interest thereon, and the property which may be in his custody and belonging to said fund; all costs and incidentals to the same, to be paid out of said pension fund. To authorize the payment to any employe who may be separated from the service of such county by the abolishment of his or her position before such employe shall have qualified for a pension, an amount equal to the amount deducted from the salary or wages of such employe, together with interest upon such deduction at the rate of three per cent per annum: Provided that such employe shall release said board from any future liability after receipt of said sum. To compel witnesses to attend and testify before it upon all matters connected with the operation of this Act, in the same manner as is or may be provided by law for the taking of testimony before masters in chancery, and its president or any member of said board may administer oaths to such witnesses. To appoint a clerk and define his duties. To make all necessary rules and regulations for its guidance in conformity with the provisions of this Act. § 5. The treasurer of such county subject to the control and direction of said board, shall be the custodian of said fund, and it shall be the duty of such county treasurer to set apart the amounts certified to him by the comptroller of such county, as hereinbefore provided, from the salaries or wages of employes and to credit such amounts to said fund, and it shall be his duty to receive and hold all moneys paid into said fund from whatever source, and to pay out moneys from said fund as hereinbefore provided, to receive and credit to said fund all interest from its investments and to keep books and accounts of said fund in the manner prescribed by said board, which books and accounts shall at all times be subject to the inspection of said board or any member thereof. § 6. No employee shall become a beneficiary under this Act nor shall pensions or benefits of any kind be allowed or paid from said fund until five years after the date upon which this Act is in force and effect. § 7. Any employe who shall have been in the service of such county for a period of not less than twenty (20) years, and who shall have attained the age of fifty-five (55) years, shall have the right to retire from the service of such county at any time after this Act is in force and effect and to become beneficiary hereunder at any time subsequent to five (5) years from and after the date when this Act is in force and effect: Provided, such employe shall in the event of his or her retirement from the service of such county within said five (5) years, pay into said fund, the sum of two dollars per month until he or she shall become a beneficiary hereunder: And provided further, that any such employe who shall retire from the service of such county before deduction shall have been made from the salary or wage of such employe for a period of twenty (20) years shall agree to pay into said fund within three (3) years from and after the date when such employe shall become a beneficiary of said fund, the sum which together with all moneys previously deducted from the salary or wages of such employee is equal to the full amount which would have been deducted and applied to said fund during a period of twenty (20) years and interest thereon at the rate of five. (5) per cent per annum. Such sum so to be paid shall be deducted by the treasurer of such county in equal monthly installments from the benefits due and payable to such employee at the regular times for the payment of said benefits after he or she shall become a beneficiary hereunder. § 8. Any employe who shall have been in the service of such county for a period of not less than twenty (20) years, and who shall retire from the service of such county before attaining the age of fifty-five (55) years shall have the right to continue paying into said fund monthly at the prescribed rate, and may thereby remain in good standing and shall have the right to become a beneficiary hereunder upon attaining the age of fifty-five (55) years, not however, until five (5) years after this Act shall take effect: Provided, such employe shall in the event of retirement from the service of such county before deduction shall have been made from the salary or wage of such employe for a period of twenty (20) years, pay into such fund within thirty (30) days from the date of such retirement from the service of said county, a sum equal to the full amount which would have been deducted and applied to said fund during a period of twenty (20) years, less the amount of any money previously deducted from the salary or wages of such employe prior to retirement. § 9. Any employe who has been in the service of said county for a period of five (5) years or more, from and after the date when this Act is in force and effect, shall have the right to retire from the service on account of serious disability rendering him or her unable to properly discharge his or her duties and may become a beneficiary under this Act and be entitled to receive the full benefits for a period of not more than two (2) years which period may be extended upon proof satisfactory to said board of continued disability. Proof of disability shall be furnished by the county physician of said county and by at least one practicing physician residing in such county. § 10. All pensions granted under the provisions of this Act and every portion thereof shall be exempt from attachment or garnishment and shall not be seized, taken, subjected to, detained, or levied upon by virtue of any execution, or any process or proceedings whatsoever issued out of or by any Court in this State for the payment and satisfaction in whole or in part, in any debt, claim, damage, demand or judgment against any beneficiary hereunder, and no beneficiary hereunder shall have the right to transfer, assign or set over his or her pension, or any part thereof either by way of mortgage or otherwise. |