Measure threatens to dissolve Illinois' rural townships, sparking
opposition
[April 05, 2025]
By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – Opponents say Senate Bill 2217 will be detrimental
to rural Illinoisans by dissolving townships that have population sizes
less than 5,000.
Illinois state Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton, D-Western Springs, has
introduced Senate Bill 2217 to dissolve townships that have population
sizes less than 5,000.
Jan Weber, Phoenix Township clerk in Henry County, said she knows
there's probably some duplication of services among some of the various
state agencies.
“We probably have the most state agencies, boards and commissions of any
other state in the country,” said Weber.
According to an Illinois Auditor General report, it was found that over
100 state boards in Illinois were inactive.
“Our county doesn't have this situation, but we have neighboring
counties where there may be six or seven elementary districts. Each one
of those elementary districts is their own unit of government, and then
you have a high school district. In our county, all of the schools are
what we call unit schools. So they maintain a high school, a middle
school and an elementary school,” said Weber.
Illinois has more than 850 school districts.
With nearly 10,000 units of local government, Illinois has more taxing
bodies than any other state. Weber said residents rely on the township
government to take care of roads and dissolving would mean adding a lot
more employees to larger government entities.
“I know that the county highway department in our county, in most
counties, those county employees are paid better than what we pay in the
townships. They probably have health insurance. They have retirement
benefits and things that townships in many cases do not offer. So it
would be a huge budget drain financially out on the county,” said Weber.
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A rural Illinois bridge - Illinois Soybean Association
Townships were originally created to provide local government
services to rural and unincorporated areas. Weber said about half
their residents are rural and the other half live in subdivisions.
“They depend on the township government to take care of the roads.
That's fixing potholes. That's removing trees that fall into the
roadway, plowing snow, so they can leave their homes on a daily
basis to go to work or get their kids to school,” said Weber. “So
having good roads and access to those roads, virtually 365 days a
year, 24 hours a day, is vital just for people's livelihood.”
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, called the bill a “war on
downstate Illinois.” Rose also explained consolidation would lead to
property tax increases.
“For the county to simply be tossed with no equipment, no manpower,
here's the debt, take the debt, how are they supposed to handle this
without raising property taxes? It is simply going to be a property
tax increase on the citizens of these counties,” Rose said during a
recent news conference.
State Sen. Chris Balkema, R-Channahon, has a similar bill, Senate
Bill 1347, but it wouldn't mandate units of government to
consolidate rather it “removes the red tape” so, for example, fire
districts A and B can decide to consolidate on their own.
Rose supports Balkema’s bill.
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