A county board may cause to be levied and collected annually, except as hereinafter provided, taxes for county purposes, including all purposes for which money may be raised by the county by taxation, in counties having 80,000 or more but less than 3,000,000 inhabitants at a rate not exceeding .25%, of the value as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue; in counties with less than 80,000 but more than 15,000 inhabitants at a rate not exceeding .27%, of the value as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue; in counties with less than 80,000 inhabitants which have authorized a tax by referendum under Section 7-2 of the Juvenile Court Act prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1985, at a rate not exceeding .32%, of the value as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue; and in counties with 15,000 or fewer inhabitants at a rate not exceeding .37%, of the value as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue; and in counties having 3,000,000 or more inhabitants for each even numbered year, subject to the abatement requirements hereinafter provided, at a rate not exceeding .39% of the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, and for each odd numbered year, subject to the abatement requirements hereinafter provided, at a rate not exceeding .35% of the value as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, except taxes for the payment of interest on and principal of bonded indebtedness heretofore duly authorized for the construction of State aid roads in the county as defined in “An Act to revise the law in relation to roads and bridges”, approved June 27, 1913, or for the construction of county highways as defined in the Illinois Highway Code, and except taxes for the payment of interest on and principal of bonded indebtedness duly authorized without a vote of the people of the county, and except taxes authorized as additional by a vote of the people of the county, and except taxes for working cash fund purposes, and except taxes as authorized by Sections 5-601, 5-602, 5-603, 5-604 and 6-512 of the Illinois Highway Code, and except taxes authorized under § 7 of the Village Library Act, and except taxes levied to pay the annual rent payments due under a lease entered into by the county with a Public Building Commission as authorized by Section 18 of the Public Building Commission Act, and except taxes levied under Division 6-3, and except taxes levied for general assistance for needy persons in counties under commission form of government and except taxes levied under the Community Care for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act, and except taxes levied under the Community Mental Health Act, and except taxes levied under Section 5-1025 to pay the expenses of elections and except taxes levied under “An Act to provide the manner of levying or imposing taxes for the provision of special services to areas within the boundaries of home rule units and non-home rule municipalities and counties”, approved September 21, 1973, and except taxes levied under Section 3a of the Revenue Act of 1939 for the purposes of helping to pay for the expenses of the assessor’s office, and except taxes levied under Division 5-21, and except taxes levied pursuant to Section 19 of “The Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency Act of 1975”, as now or hereafter amended, and except taxes levied pursuant to Division 5-23, and except taxes levied under § 5 of the County Shelter Care and Detention Home Act, and except taxes levied under the Children’s Advocacy Center Act, and except taxes levied under § 9-107 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act.
     Those taxes a county has levied and excepted from the rate limitation imposed by this Section or Section 25.05 of “An Act to revise the law in relation to counties”, approved March 31, 1874, in reliance on this amendatory Act of 1994 are not invalid because of any provision of this Section that may be construed to or may have been construed to restrict or limit those taxes levied and those taxes are hereby validated. This validation of taxes levied applies to all cases pending on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1994.
     Nothing contained in this amendatory Act of 1994 shall be construed to affect the application of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law.
     Any tax levied for general assistance for needy persons in any county in addition to and in excess of the maximum levy permitted by this Section for general county purposes shall be paid into a special fund in the county treasury and used only for the purposes for which it is levied except that any excess in such fund over the amount needed for general assistance may be used for County Nursing Home purposes and shall not exceed .10% of the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue. Any taxes levied for general assistance pursuant to this Section may also be used for the payment of warrants issued against and in anticipation of such taxes and accrued interest thereon and may also be used for the payment of costs of administering such general assistance.
     In counties having 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, taxes levied for any year for any purpose or purposes, except amounts levied for the payment of bonded indebtedness or interest thereon and for pension fund purpose, and except taxes levied to pay the annual rent payments due under a lease entered into by the county with a Public Building Commission as authorized by Section 18 of the Public Building Commission Act, are subject to the limitation that they shall not exceed the estimated amount of taxes to be levied for the year for the purpose or purposes as determined in accordance with Section 6-24001 and set forth in the annual appropriation bill of the county and in ascertaining the rate per cent that will produce the amount of any tax levied in any county, the county clerk shall not add to the tax or rate any sum or amount to cover the loss and cost of collecting the tax, except in the case of amounts levied for the payment of bonded indebtedness or interest thereon, and in the case of amounts levied for pension fund purposes, and except taxes levied to pay the annual rent payments due under a lease entered into by the county with a Public Building Commission as authorized by Section 18 of the Public Building Commission Act.
     In counties having a population of 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, the county clerk shall in each even numbered year, before extending the county tax for the year, reduce the levy for county purposes for the year (exclusive of levies for payment of indebtedness and payment of interest on and principal of bonded indebtedness as aforesaid, and exclusive of county highway taxes as aforesaid, and exclusive of pension fund taxes, and except taxes levied to pay the annual rent payments due under a lease entered into by the county with a Public Building Commission as authorized by Section 18 of the Public Building Commission Act) in the manner described and in an amount to be determined as follows: If the amount received from the collection of the tax levied in the last preceding even numbered year for county purposes as aforesaid, as shown by the county treasurer’s final settlement for the last preceding even numbered year and also by subsequent receipts of delinquent taxes for the county purposes fund levied for the last preceding even numbered year, equals or exceeds the amount produced by multiplying the rate extended for the county purposes for the last preceding even numbered year by the total assessed valuation of all property in the county used in the year for purposes of state and county taxes, and by deducting therefrom the amount appropriated to cover the loss and cost of collecting taxes to be levied for the county purposes fund for the last preceding even numbered year, the clerk in determining the rate per cent to be extended for the county purposes fund shall deduct from the amount of the levy certified to him for county purposes as aforesaid for even numbered years the amount received by the county clerk or withheld by the county treasurer from other municipal corporations within the county as their pro rata share of election expenses for the last preceding even numbered year, as authorized in Sections 13-11, 13-12, 13-13 and 16-2 of the Election Code, and the clerk in these counties shall extend only the net amount remaining after such deductions.
     The foregoing limitations upon tax rates, insofar as they are applicable to counties having less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, may be increased or decreased under the referendum provisions of the General Revenue Law of Illinois and there shall be no limit on the rate of tax for county purposes that may be levied by a county so long as any increase in the rate is authorized by referendum in that county.
     Any county having a population of less than 3,000,000 inhabitants that has determined to change its fiscal year may, as a means of effectuating a change, instead of levying taxes for a one-year period, levy taxes for a period greater or less than a year as may be necessary.
     In counties having less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, in ascertaining the rate per cent that will produce the amount of any tax levied in that county, the County Clerk shall not add to the tax or rate any sum or amount to cover the loss and cost of collecting the tax except in the case of amounts levied for the payment of bonded indebtedness or interest thereon and in the case of amounts levied for pension fund purposes and except taxes levied to pay the annual rent payments due under a lease entered into by the county with a Public Building Commission as authorized by Section 18 of the Public Building Commission Act.
     A county shall not have its maximum tax rate reduced as a result of a population increase indicated by the 1980 federal census.