Both Peotone and Will Townships had a single new business resolution on their agenda for their annual meeting.
That resolution, opposing the pending legislation to consolidate Illinois townships.
SB 2217 was sponsored by Sen. Suzy-Glowiak-Hilton (D-23rd District, with an office in Oak Brook) and requires that townships with populations under 5,000 either consolidate with adjacent townships or consolidate with the encompassing county.
Their reasoning? To reduce administrative redundancies and potentially lower costs with maintaining multiple small government entities.
The resolution provided by the Township Association confirms the claim that township government has the lowest debt and expense per capita in local government and taxpayers; at least in Peotone and Will Township, that’s for sure.
The approved resolution by both townships also states 72,000 miles of roads and 12,000 bridges are maintained in townships. Current law allows a township to consolidate if the initiative is petitioned and with voter approval. Also, the resolution states that past attempts at legislation like this have failed and research has proven there are increased costs overall for local government through consolidation or dissolution.
Sen. Glowiak Hilton also introduced SB 2504 proposing to eliminate township assessors and multi-township assessor offices in counties with a population under 50,000. The county assessor would assume all the duties and manage the assets, liabilities, and property records.
Meaning, the county would get all the township tax dollars and, if you had a question, you’d have to call or travel to Joliet to get the answer.
But it wouldn’t necessarily mean a reduction in taxes, because the county would get to levy property taxes within the boundaries of those dissolved townships to cover the costs of the services they take over.
Road districts also would be dissolved, and everything would be transferred to the county. If the county doesn’t come through, municipalities can assume the responsibility with no extra funding.
That means that Will County, the fourth most populated county in the state with 849 square miles, would be responsible for all county and township roads.
SB 2217 also creates a method for adjacent townships to consolidate by requiring a petition of only five percent of the voters in each affected township. The result could be one, new, larger township or the dissolution of one into the other. Once again, everything one township has would be transferred to the other township, including road districts.
While proponents claim it “potentially lowers costs,” opponents worry about the loss of local control and the effect on local services to residents.
Both Peotone and Will Townships were a hard no, but the resolution provided by the Township Association of Illinois left some room for the possibility.
It states it will “only support any statewide effort of township consolidation if valid cost impact analysis is completed and proof that the level of services provided will remain.”
That clause alone was enough for the Will Township board member and annual meeting moderator, Gene Maves, to say no way.
“You know darn well they’ll cook the books and come up with some figures, and you’re basically telling them we’ll go along with it. Because I would think, is the township opposed under all circumstances?”
Will Township Clerk Robert Ogalla said the Townships Association of Illinois created the resolution because they didn’t want to be painted as anti-consolidation of all Illinois Government.
Maves said they could have accomplished the same thing with different wording.
Newly elected Township Board Member Mark Heisner said maybe the goal was support of consolidation if two townships agree. Ogalla confirmed there’s already a process in place for that consolidation, which incorporates voter agreement.
Maves said the ordinance is kind of like “sticking your head in a noose.”
The resolution was motioned and seconded and everyone voted in favor except Maves.
The resolution that was passed wasn’t wrong, both townships end their fiscal year with money in the bank, and their operating expenses are less than their revenue, significantly.
Will Township had expenditures of $106,573 and ended with a fiscal year balance of $327,534. The Will Township Road District had expenditures of $227,322 and an ending fiscal year balance of $524,100.
The Peotone Township Road and Bridge Fund spent $78,940.83 and ended with a balance of $431,605.08. The Hard Road Fund spent $191,688.07 and ended with $195,416.07. The Town Fund spent $187,429.28 and ended with $92,444.89 in the fund.
Will Township still hasn’t even spent all of the ARPA money that was awarded to them, with $17,000 left to spend. Clerk Ogalla said they received a relatively small amount compared to others but believed they put the funds to good use.
SB 2217 has been re-referred to the Senate Assignments Committee and has sat there since March 21. SB 2504 has changed sponsors and is pending in the Senate Executive Committee as of April 11.