Macon Reporter

There are too many governmental units in Illinois, Warrensburg Village Administrative Clerk Sherrie Brown recently told the Macon Reporter.

"I believe there are far too many units of government in the state of Illinois," Brown said. "I think other units of government should be looked at as well as townships."

There's history to back that up, Brown said. "I believe that the state of Illinois was governed by township before counties and municipalities came into being," she said.

Township Officials of Illinois Executive Director Bryan Smith

"I do not believe that townships should be given over to counties," Brown said. "I see far too much corruption in counties in the state of Illinois."

Brown also urged the Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation on term limits and better training for officials in the state's governmental units.

Brown's comments to the Macon Reporter came shortly after a memorandum was issued by Township Officials of Illinois Executive Director Bryan Smith about an amendment to an existing property tax freeze bill that has since failed. Amendment 1 added to Senate Bill 851 on Oct. 26 by Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) would have implemented a two-year property tax freeze for Cook County and some collar counties. The amendment would have left other Illinois counties to freeze property taxes via voter referendum. 

"This would mean for those townships/road districts in those counties, this year and next year your extension limitation would be zero percent unless voters approve an increase," Smith said in an urgent legislative alert. "In all other counties outside of Cook and the Collar Counties, the amendment, if passed, would allow a county board to place a referendum on the ballot in 2018 to have a property tax freeze for all local governments within that county for 2018 and 2019; or whether to have all local governments within the county subject to a property tax freeze for 2018 and 2019 and then subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) for levy year 2020 and thereafter."

Illinois' units of local government number about 7,000, more per capita than any other state in the U.S. Illinois. The state also endures the highest overall tax burden in the nation.

The problems that plague Illinois are not just about property taxes and its thousands of governmental units, officials in those existing governments need to be better trained, Brown said. 

"I believe that for any unit of government that there should be training and requirements and term limits for the elected and appointed board members to remain in office," she said.