•August 21, 2019•
By Rebecca Anzel
Capitol News Illinois

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law giving voters in one Illinois county an option to more easily dissolve township governments. It is an initiative of two state lawmakers to ease residents’ property taxes by reducing levels of government.
Barrington Hills Representative David McSweeney said it is the first step to providing that choice to voters throughout the state. Consolidation must first work well in McHenry County, the sixth most populous county in Illinois, before the experiment can expand.
“We need to show that it works, but in the future I plan to use this as a way to promote other types of consolidation — we need to look at school districts, park districts, municipalities,” McSweeney, the law’s House sponsor, said. “I am going to continue to focus on this.”
There are more than 8,500 local government units in Illinois, according to the comptroller’s website — 1,428 of those are townships. These are essentially the closest level of government to residents, required to provide general assistance to the poor, administer property assessments and maintain roads.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.