From State Rep. David McSweeney:
IL Senate Approves McSweeney-Link Bipartisan Legislation Allowing ers to Abolish Townships in McHenry County
Springfield, IL – The Illinois Senate has given bipartisan approval to
a measure State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) is
sponsoring to make it easier for voters in McHenry County to reduce
the number of townships.
The legislation, HB 348, allows voters to force a ballot question to
abolish a township in McHenry County.
Voters must submit a petition with at least 5 percent of the number of voters who voted in a previous comparable election.
If a simple majority of voters vote to abolish a township – the township would be dissolved.
The measure also requires the dissolution of road districts in McHenry and Lake counties with less than 15 miles of maintained roads.
Senator Terry Link (D-Waukegan) carried the legislation in the Illinois Senate.
“I thank Leader Link for his hard work in getting this bill passed in the Senate,” McSweeney said.
“This is a bipartisan effort to help lower the property tax burden for residents and I certainly appreciate his leadership in getting the bill passed.”
The bill also includes a 10% property tax cut by requiring that the taxes levied by the county for a dissolved township cannot exceed more than 90 percent of the taxes levied by the former township government.
“Illinois has nearly 7,000 units of local government,” McSweeney said.
“If we want to permanently lower property taxes in Illinois, we have to do something to shrink the number of units of local government we have.
“This bill is not a requirement.
“It is permissive.
“It puts the decision in the hands of the voters and that is the way it should be.
“And again, I appreciate the work Senator Link did in the Senate to pass this commonsense bill.”
HB 348 passed the Senate by a vote of 44-3. The measure now moves to the Governor’s desk for his signature.
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Meanwhile, Algonquin Township’s Board voted 4-1 not to put a rferendum on the ballot to put the Highway Commissioner under the Townshjp Board.
Who wants to join me in passing a petition to abolish Algonquin Township? (Send contact information to calskinner2@gmail.com.)
Gee, what Township should have this question submitted first? Think think Think! I know how about miller Township.
Miller’s are leaving for Canada grandpa bob can’t foot the the bill for lees kids any more good luck jr you picked the same kind of wife your dad did That’s why she had so much contempt looking in the mirror
Best news of the month!
Thank you Dave McSweeney…been talked about for decades, now action actually started…I’m sure Bob “the Barber” from Wonder Lake will rejoice as well, but I think its Algonquin Township that gets to go first.
I wonder if this would have a better chance of passing during an off year election, or an even numbered year election?
An off year election is generally easier to win, but the township supporters probably have a much better get out the vote operation.
Since only 5% of the voters are necessary to put the question on the ballot, it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep putting it on until it passes.
In a presidential election, say good bye Algonquin Township!
Township government makes no sense in urban and suburban areas. The whole thing was an antebellum (Civil War) welfare scheme long before the welfare state (Medicaid, food stamps, WIC, welfare, section 8) got started.
Evanston township voters finally woke up and abolished a pointless Evanston Township. Can you believe they were paying a supervisor $150 K and a road district Commissioner at $145 K Getting rid of these do-nothing parasites and the pointless township saved $800K the first year!
Eye opening article : http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-01-11/jim-dey-eliminating-townships-has-worked-illinois.html
Excerpt:
Under pressure to consolidate the township, the Evanston City Council voted 5-4 in 2011 to put an advisory referendum on the ballot that asked voters if they favored dissolving Evanston Township and transferring its functions to the city of Evanston. Voters supported the measure by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin.
(Note how far the politicians on the city council were out of step with the public. That’s because too many of them are looking out for the interests of other politicians, not the public they purport to serve.)
Getting the message, Chairman Cronin worked with his legislators, including Democratic state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston, to persuade members of the Illinois House and Senate to approve legislation allowing voters there to conduct a meaningful referendum authorizing the consolidation.
In 2014, voters approved the consolidation — 63 percent in favor to 37 percent against.
Much of the nearly $800,000 in first-year savings were “due to a reduction in salary/benefit expenses and administrative expenses” and “elimination of positions” that were unnecessary or duplicative, the city reported.
Thanks to State Representative Dave McSweeney and State Senator Terry Link, and all of the legislators who voted in favor of this legislation. May we be thanking Governor Pritzker, soon, for signing this legislation into law. But now it would be up to us to not only get the needed referenda in McHenry County onto the ballot, but we also need to get it passed. There will be organized opposition to our efforts to eliminate townships in McHenry County. This comment is only a suggested method to help us all get moving on this, assuming the governor signs the bill.
I believe we need to get these referenda onto the ballot as soon as possible. Therefore, placing the referenda for the respective townships on March 17, 2020, is something we can and should do. Consolidation referenda on primary ballots have been successful. Last year in March, voters in the city of Aurora who live in Kane, Kendall and Will Counties eliminated the Aurora Election Commission, with the respective county clerks taking over elections in those portions of the city of Aurora. It was passed in March last year, and implemented in time for the November election. We also consolidated the county recorder’s office into the clerk’s office, and that transition will be completed by the end of November of next year.
Getting township elimination referenda onto the ballot will need organization, coordination and the right legal help to draft the petitions to place this on the ballot and minimize legal expenses in the event our opposition want to take us to court. After what happened in Algonquin Township earlier this month, we should not leave it to the township board to place the elimination of townships on the ballot. We need to do this ourselves, via petitions. In other words, we need to do this the hard way, which will go further to getting the referenda passed.
If I read this legislation right, for the drafting of the petitions, we need to set the date of dissolution for the township we want to eliminate, since the date needs to be on the ballot. The legislation states the date can be no fewer than 90 days after the election it passes. In order to insure the referendum passage as well as the best, efficient and less costly (and that includes less potential litigation), assuming we go to referendum on March 17, 2020, the dissolution date should be set at April 13, 2021.
Why over a year from referendum approval to dissolve a township to its actual dissolution? Because we proponents for dissolution want and need to demonstrate to voters that doing the right thing will not be rushed. Opponents of dissolution will try to scare voters into thinking they will lose services without adequate reassurances and transitions, important things like snow plowing and road maintenance will not be maintained at the same level of service residents expect. By demonstrating to voters we have an extended transition period will insure no township service will be completely dropped without another government entity picking it up, and likely for a lower cost, will make scare tactics moot. And it will show voters that the elected officials we elected in 2017 will, with the exception of the assessor, finish their terms in order to implement the transition.
The April 13, 2021 date is the date of the annual township meetings that year. And if the voters decide to eliminate their township, the last annual meeting of that township will bring closure and answer any last possible questions township residents may have of their elected township officials who will all be finishing their terms on the date of dissolution. For all the elected officials, except the assessor, they will be finishing their final elected terms. Only the assessor will be retired early, by over 8 months.
Last but not least, while this new legislation says any of McHenry County’s townships can be eliminated via referenduam, I would suggest we proponents do a “Focus on the Big Five” priority: Algonquin, Grafton, Nunda, Dorr and McHenry. The first 2 have had litigation, costing taxpayers, in recent years. Additionally, the successful passage of a township elimination referendum is more sellable in townships where there are a significant number of residents living in municipalities. These municipal residents are the more likely voters to eliminate a layer of government, as opposed to an unincorporated voter, who does not have municipal services (nor the property taxes to go with it). Yes, there are some exceptions where an unincorporated property owner has municipal water/sewer, but they are exceptions.
Finally timing is everything to do township elimination right and maximize savings for taxpayers. Successful passage of referenda eliminating the 5 largest townships in McHenry County in March of next year eliminates the need to have township elections in 2021. And given the 5 largest townships usually nominate their township officials by established political party, this will eliminate the need for a township primary election in February of 2021, or a township caucus in December of 2020. Those kinds of savings are in addition to the larger savings the economies of scale will bring when either McHenry County and/or municipalities take over the basic township services.
There is a lot here, but to taxpayers in McHenry County, there is a lot of opportunity to save them their hard-earned money by consolidating township services into other local units of government. By all means, let’s discuss, and let’s coordinate for the common goal.
Great Day in the Morning!
People finally waking up to the sheer waste, patronage and nepotism of counter productive townships in Illinois!
Typical example of township corruption:
“Maybe East St. Louis Township Supervisor Alvin Parks could get away with bending the rules if he hadn’t taken over for a corrupt man now in federal prison for treating $230,000 in tax dollars as his own. Maybe Parks would get a pass if this were his first transgression.
But it’s not. And he shouldn’t.
Parks is supposed to run all spending through the township’s trustees. He’s failed to do so, with an $888.81 check that looks like he worked hard to get past the intended oversight.
He scratched out the lock company that was the intended recipient. Then he made it payable as a salary advance to a township employee, who apparently owed the money to the power company. He needed a co-signer, so he got the trustee who just happened to be the employee’s dad.
So much wrong here: Nepotism, cronyism, corruption before you even get to the HR issues involved in salary advances and tracking a vendor check through the payroll process. Not that anyone in East St. Louis Township has been all that great at tracking money — allowing former supervisor Oliver W. Hamilton to vastly overspend his credit card limits and ultimately steal big bucks, losing track of millions in deposits, misspending youth jobs grants and paying $550 for a political crony to remove a dusting of snow.
Trustees want Parks prosecuted for violating the township ordinance. State’s attorney and congressional candidate Brendan Kelly would quickly hand that political hot potato off to the Illinois State Police.
That should be done, but the real fix is to eliminate this useless layer of government that mimics the city of East St. Louis’ boundaries, but does little real public service. East St. Louis mainly serves as a job service for relatives and political hacks, and as the occasional ATM for corrupt politicians.
Eliminate it, and let property taxpayers keep their money or invest in something that betters the community rather than keeps it down.
Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/opinion/editorials/article215355960.html#storylink=cpy
Thank you Rep. McSweeney!
Damn you Rep. Reick, “Mr. DUI” and Township lobbyists’ whore!
Congratulations to Dave McSweeney. Like Trump, he wasn’t part of the rotten GOP establishment of losers, and he was wealthy enough, so he couldn’t be bought.
Township Officials of Illinois should be prosecuted as corrupt racketeering criminal organization under RICO!
below excerpted from: http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/May-2019/Lets-Get-Rid-of-All-the-Townships/
It’s not just urban counties that find remnant townships burdensome. Some rural counties want to get rid of their townships, too. Last month, State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, passed a bill that would allow McHenry County townships to dissolve themselves.
“My goal is to reduce the number of governmental bodies — it’s one of the reasons our property taxes are so high,” McSweeney said. “Consolidation, I think, is the key to reducing property taxes and administrative fees.”
Here’s a bigger, better idea: let’s get rid of every township in Illinois. All 1,428 of them — a big reason the state leads the nation in number of taxing bodies. Townships are an obsolete layer of government that has no place in the 21st century. Most states get along fine without townships, including all the low-tax, high-growth states of the Sunbelt. Illinois can learn to live without them, too.
McHenry Township is the biggest waste in the County.
They have a Democrat Assessor who hires Democrat patronage people.
They also have an inept Supervisor who loafs all day and can’t justify his bloated salary.
They have a Road District thug who runs his own business, yet rakes in over $120K in benefits, and only shows up a few times a month (to pick up his check?)
There’s a saying that bureaucracy perpetuates itself, and that’s certainly true of townships.
They’re so hard to get rid of because they’re a juicy source of jobs, patronage, and double-dipping for elected officials.
Take state Sen. Steve Landek, who climbed the political ladder by serving as Lyons Township Road Commissioner, which required him to oversee a grand total of 20 miles of roads on unincorporated suburban land.
Landek left that job to become Lyons Township Supervisor, a job he briefly held onto while also serving as mayor of Bridgeview and Illinois state senator. (Landek’s predecessor in the senate, Lou Viverito, simultaneously served as Stickney Township Supervisor.)
Townships even have their own Springfield lobbying group, the Township Officials of Illinois, whose executive director, Bryan Smith, recently wrote in a letter to the Sun-Times:
“…in Illinois, the smallest local governments generally spent half as much per capita as those with local governments of populations between 10,000 to 250,000 residents. That means Illinois taxpayers will likely be required to pay more if their communities are required to assume the duties of township government because of consolidation or elimination.”
More government = lower taxes sounds like an Orwellian argument, especially in a state with the most government and, according to USA Today, the fifth-worst tax burden in the nation.
Townships certainly aren’t to blame for all of that, but given how easily their duties could be absorbed by overlapping governments, getting rid of them is a good place to start.
I used to support townships … until I found out what a huge waste of money they were.
In McHenry Township, it costs 7x more to administer general assistance than what the township gives out!
That is wrong.
We need townships like we need Illinois to be a sanctuary state of illegal aliens.
After losing reelection in 2017, Miller and his recently ousted sons-in-law – Andrew Rosencrans and Derek Lee – were quick to find employment at nearby townships.
Miller, Rosencrans and Lee have each been employed by Nunda Township since leaving Algonquin Township. At one point, the three had been listed on the township’s payroll simultaneously.
Miller also established a “local government consulting firm” that billed neighboring McHenry Township at least $480 for services in 2017.
Nunda and McHenry townships’ questionable hiring practices go beyond their affiliations with Miller and his relatives. The two townships’ engagement with one another might also catch the eye of local taxpayers.
McHenry Township Highway Commissioner Jim Condon hired Benton Lesperance, the son of Nunda Township Highway Commissioner Mike Lesperance, to a full-time position with a pension in November 2017.
The position was not advertised to the public, Condon told McHenry Township trustees at an April board meeting.
This appeared to be reciprocal: Nunda Township hired Mitchell Condon, Jim Condon’s son, the same year.
The younger Condon had been terminated by the end of last year, however.
From — https://www.illinoispolicy.org/nepotistic-hires-highlight-township-government-waste/
I can tell you flat out that townships are totally corrupt.
Why did Kenneally protect the Miller family, even when he was handed evidence on a silver platter?
Jim Condon has done a marvelous job as McHenry Township Road Commissioner.
A marvelous job of lining his own pockets.
And getting his kid a job in Nunda township
McSweeny: Good
Townships: Bad
Good job! State Reps. Weber and Reick are owned by the township lowlifes: https://www.facebook.com/pg/mchenrytownship/community/?ref=page_internal
scroll down to April 8 — Reick looks more sober than Weber.
I will NEVER vote for Weber again. Just another gasbag RINO.
Who cares about townships?
It’s the school districts that really rip us off.
They are like the mafia and the townships are like teen shoplifters.
Most township officials I ever met could never et a job in the public sector.
And why should they?
They have a do-nothing job as it is.
Don’t rock the boat.
This is great.
But what will happen to Miller’s sons in law?!
Has anybody bothered to think of them out on the street?
Felons
Maybe Derek Lee can CRY HIS WAY OUT 😂
So, what role are you going to play?