 But much of the “Moving Cities Forward” legislation being promoted by the
Illinois Municipal League likely will face pushback in a General Assembly locked
in a struggle over taxes, the lack of an overall state budget and Gov. Bruce
Rauner’s calls for changes in the state’s financial and political conduct.
The league on Tuesday rolled out its initiative, including a measure to put
local shares of taxes and fees into automatic,continuing appropriations and
remove them from the annual budget fight.
Another thrust of the league’s effort calls for expansion of “home rule”
authority. That proposal would grant municipalities of 5,000 or more the
additional powers of home rule — including some taxing powers — that are now
reserved to cities or towns of 25,000 or more.
Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, is sponsoring a home rule proposal — HJRCA 38 —
that’s included in the league’s effort. He said he knows there may be resistance
from some lawmakers wary of or even flat-out opposed to granting any additional
taxing authority.
But cities and towns are struggling, he said, and home rule is one way to put
spending decisions closest to home.
“The cities and villages in my district are feeling the crunch of the budget
impasse, and this is a piece of legislation we felt we could try to move forward
and alleviate some of the issues they’re having,” Smiddy said.
At minimum, expanding home rule should be discussed and debated in the General
Assembly, he argued.
“You have to be realistic, I believe, and say we’re in this to help people and
not to do more damage,” Smiddy said. “If this gives local governments a chance
to blaze their own way, so to speak, and solve some of their own problems, then
we need to take a look at it.”
Sen. Pamela Althoff, R-McHenry, is sponsoring two bills in the Municipal
League’s package.
The former McHenry mayor’s legislation includes one bill, SB 3105, that would
require arbitrators to consider a city’s financial condition when deciding wage
and benefit rulings on contracts for police officers and firefighters.
Those decisions often end up before arbitrators because state law forbids a work
stoppage in the public safety fields, whether it be initiated by either
management or labor.
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 “Salaries and benefits are usually the most expensive line item
in any budget,” Althoff said, and it only makes sense that
arbitrators be required consider what a city can afford to pay when
making salary and benefit decisions.
Legislation addressing the costs of arbitration, pension and workers
compensation nearly always face opposition, Althoff said, but the
General Assembly has to look at what the state can do to help local
government address costs.
“The idea is to truly to start a dialog,” she said. “It’s a
significant issue. If we can’t get all that we want, what can we
get? What makes sense? Where can we go? It’s an issue that every
municipality I’m aware of is struggling with.”
The question inherent in most of the Municipal League bills is how
to help local governments address rising costs without pushing
additional taxes onto taxpayers, “and I don’t think that’s
necessarily a party issue, I think that’s more of an issue of
serving our shared constituency,” Althoff said.
With Republican Gov. Rauner and legislative Democrats locked in
battles over budgeting and Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda,” analyst Jim
Nowlan said he’d be surprised if any but the very least
controversial of bills are shunted to the side this spring.
“I think that anything that smacks of being controversial will be
put on hold,” said Nowlan, a former Republican member of the House
and retired senior fellow of the University of Illinois Institute
for Government and Public Affairs.
Nowlan also noted several of the proposals in the league’s
initiative seem to line up with the governor’s agenda, and that’s
not likely to play well in the Democratically controlled
Legislature, particularly the House.
“I don’t think Speaker (Michael) Madigan is going to want to be
giving anything out that might look like a victory for Rauner,”
Nowlan said.
“It’s going to be a heavy lift, but that doesn’t change what their
positions are — that it’s time to have the debate and let’s get
started,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public
Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.
Whether or not the bills can pass this session, “I think it’s a
little bit of delivering another wake-up call to Illinoisans that
local governments are going to have to start making some changes,
too” Yepsen said.
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