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 Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a local
government consolidation bill into law Aug. 14. Senate Bill 3, now Public Act
100-0107, will allow communities in Illinois to hold referendums on whether to
dissolve or consolidate townships, and will make it easier for townships to get
rid of unnecessary road districts, and to pursue other reforms.
Under the new law, township boards will be able to hold referendums for voters,
asking them whether they want to dissolve their townships.
The law calls for township boards seeking a dissolution referendum to hold
hearings after publishing information about the referendum online and in local
newspapers. Once a township is abolished, all rights, powers, duties, assets,
property, liabilities, obligations and responsibilities of the township are
transferred to the municipality or county within which the township is located.
The law also allows for referendums to be held on the merging and combination of
townships, with the responsibilities of dissolved townships to be handed to the
consolidated or receiving townships.
 Though the law extends to all Illinois counties the abilities formerly held
exclusively by McHenry, DuPage and Lake counties to hold backdoor referendums on
consolidation, the new law stipulates that existing contracts with government
workers from dissolved townships must be maintained, thereby limiting the
taxpayer savings. (The law exempts from this requirement actions taken by
McHenry, DuPage and Lake counties prior to January 2018.)
The law also allows for townships with a population of less than 3 million to
more easily consolidate small road districts. Referendums on the abolishment of
road districts with less than 15 miles of road may be called for by a majority
vote of a qualifying township’s board of trustees. If the referendum is
successful, the highway commissioner of the abolished road district will step
down by the later of the January following the referendum or when the
commissioner’s term expires. The township board will be allowed to contract with
the county, a municipality or private contractor to fulfill the defunct road
district’s duties.
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While SB 3 is an
important step in the right direction, it should not be the last
piece of local government consolidation reform the Prairie State
enacts. The law does not do enough to curb the major local cost
drivers reflected on Illinoisans’ property tax bills.
The law will also make it harder for residents of Lake, McHenry and
DuPage counties – where homeowners pay the highest property taxes in
the state – to effectively stem the growing cost of their property
tax bills. Formerly, voters in those areas could pursue more
aggressive reforms that cut down on duplicative layers of costly
government and the high costs of workers they employ. The new law
prohibits governments, including Lake, McHenry and DuPage counties
starting in January 2018, from terminating contracts of
union-represented employees of dissolved units of local government.
Starting in January 2018, taxpayers in those areas will still have
to pay for the workers of offices they vote to get rid of.
Illinois has more units of local government than any other state in
the country with nearly 7,000. And because of all these unnecessary
units of local government, Illinoisans’ property taxes are among the
highest in the nation.
If Illinoisans want to see comprehensive property tax reform,
especially in Lake, McHenry and DuPage counties, more must be done.
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