Why One McHenry Resident Favors Government Consolidation

The following was letter to the Northwest Herald is republished with the permission of its writer, Jamie Grubich.

WHY ALL THE TALK OF CONSOLIDATION?

To the Editor:

In states that have many layers of government, most residents can’t even name the taxing bodies much less have the required knowledge to make informed voter decisions at the polls.

Illinois holds the record nationwide for the most units of government, 6963 (2012 U.S. census and Illinois Comptroller’s Office reports 8,466).

Additionally, Illinois holds the record of 50th place in terms of Fiscal Stability according to the 2018 U.S. News and World Reports and statedatalab.org gives Illinois a big, fat “F” along with 8 other states for a financial grade.

Overlapping layers of government do not promote efficiency, cost savings or best value services for tax payer dollars.

Illinois is one of the 11 remaining states that still have township governments that overlap other government units (2012 U.S. Census).

Illinois has passed bills to authorize counties to consolidate or dissolve certain units of local government.

Ohio, Michigan and New York are going much further with state lead initiatives to promote and provide incentives for government consolidation by enacting legislation and awarding grant monies toward efforts for better governance, reduced costs, improved service delivery and greater civic participation.

With the staggering tax bills in McHenry County, all Taxpayers should be embracing consolidation efforts in the November 2018 election and in the coming years.

While Illinois legislators and elected officials point fingers at each other, I’m pointing Taxpayers to the polls.

Ask your friends and family members to vote with you on sensible local consolidation issues.

For those of you that have not voted in the past, it takes 2 minutes to register online to vote in the November election. Go to mchnerycountyil.gov and REGISTER TODAY!

Jamie Grubich


Comments

Why One McHenry Resident Favors Government Consolidation — 13 Comments

  1. We could have another hundred layers of government if no pensions were due and payable.

    Or even if they had been fully funded to begin with.

    The “crisis” is decades in the making and a direct result of the pension Ponzi scheme.

    Dissolving townships will not save 1 penny and could and probably will, this is IL afterall, cost taxpayers even more.

    Who supports doing this without researching the facts???

    It’s a witch hunt, political payback and once again we the taxpayers find a way to screw ourselves

  2. Making a blunt statement that dissolving townships will not save money is your personal opinion but certainly not a fact.

    In truth, most of the United states do not have townships and manage very well.

  3. If townships are so essential, why do only 20 states out of 50 have them?

  4. We have the government we have and any changes need careful consideration before any form of gov is eliminated.

    There is plenty of talk with no proof elimination will save tax $$$$, yet it’s fact that bigger gov agencies historically have cost more to run that smaller units of gov.

    Prove that stereo type of wasteful big gov is wrong with numbers and facts, not just lip service that elimination or even consolidation will save.

    It seems like every time a politician says this or that, BOcare as a example, change will save on taxation it ends up costing more not less.

  5. Linda Moore (Mahady?) quit making me poor!

    This was so good from another commenter, I’m reposting it!:

    Having relocated here from Georgia last year (I’m an ex-USAF/and now commercial pilot, I know I should keep my mouth shut about local McHenry Co. politics until I’ve lived here a few years.
    But, I must add something here:
    First of all, the above comments made me laugh so hard, I thought I’d have to go to the ER for a hernia.
    Haven’t laughed so hard in years!
    I’m definitely on the side of the anti-Township folks because, as I see it, there’s way too much temptation, if not outright corruption, as in Algonquin Township.
    I attended the Viet Nam Mem. Wall exhibition and spoke to McHenry Township Greg Adams for a bit.
    I came away shaking my head.
    That fellow is a typical government munchkin trying to justify his full time job, but a job that’s totally unnecessary.
    He tried to solicit me to “help” him defeat the consolidation referendum coming this November.
    I said I’m here for a memorial presentation, then he said if the referendum wins, then events like this would be “over for good.”
    I told him I got sticker shock when I saw my tax bill for residential property. (An airline relocation company never told me what I’d be paying here!)
    He blamed the whole thing on ‘Schools.’
    When I said, “what about you?” He said he turned down a $200,000 something job to take the township job as Township supervisor, and that he did it to ‘help the community and the veterans’ (which he was not a veteran, BTW– I did ask him)
    When people say they take pay cuts for altruistic rationales, I’m suspicious to say the least.
    But when a government official says this crud, I know I’ve got a faker on my hands.
    I didn’t completely tell Adams I was big into local politics in Georgia, or that I helped defeat a recent screwed up scheme to introduce townships into Georgia. See, i. e.,: https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/townships-won-become-reality-georgia/UvJy2ygTO50rZd96QSgdcK/?icmp=np_inform_variation-test
    Then it hit me like a Beaufort #12 scale wind force: In Georgia, we used the example of all the out-of-control corruption (and nepotism) IN ILLINOIS TOWNSHIPS as a rational for keeping them out of Georgia!
    GO WILCOX!!!

  6. The states that have townships were settled mainly by New Englanders.

    My home state of Maryland does not have townships. Neither do southern colonial states and those west that were settled by their residents.

    You will note that Southern Illinois does not have townships. That part of the state was settled by people south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

  7. The people of Evanston just got rid of Evanston when they discovered the drain on their pocketbooks.

    They were damn angry about it too!

    “By a near two-to-one margin, city voters elected Tuesday to abolish Evanston Township.
    With 44 of 53 precincts reporting, 63.23 percent of more than 7,500 voters had chosen to support the referendum to abolish the township.

    The township, which has the same boundaries as the city of Evanston, provides tax advice to residents and general assistance to the needy. The referendum was subject to lengthy debate. Advocates argued it was not providing the necessary assistance and would save money if abolished, and opponents said the city is not prepared to absorb the township services.”

    source: https://dailynorthwestern.com/2014/03/18/city/evanston-votes-to-abolish-township/

  8. While efforts to eliminate or consolidate townships in McHenry County has merit, the amount they take from our real estate tax bills is small compared to the costs of school districts which are about 70 percent of the total. The real low hanging fruit to grab and lower our tax bills are in consolidation of school districts and elimination of superintendents and other administrative staffs.

    Further reductions in tax bills could be helped by elimination of all COLA’s for pensions of former Illinois government workers. More reductions could be effected by having very highly compensated administrators and teachers take hair cuts. That’s just for starters.

    The present situation in Illinois having many tens of billions of dollars of unfunded pension liability amounts is not sustainable. Illinois, the worst State in the U.S., is headed toward a fiscal trainwreck. The Democrat controlled State Legislature has been and continues to be derelict in not working on and implementing solutions.

  9. I hear ya, Bred, but it’s gotta start somewhere.

    The Road Commissioners in McHenry and Nunda Townships are brazen tax-criminals. They both hired Bob Miller for ‘consultations.’ Gimme a break!

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