Time to abolish DuPage Township government?

 

It's time DuPage County consider abolishing its 9 townships. They are an anachronism of primitive 17th century America when there were few cities, counties, even states to provide governmental services. They declined dramatically nationwide in the second half of the 20th century, as cities, towns and states absorbed their governmental functions. But not in Illinois where there are still 1,428 townships in 84 of Illinois' 102 counties. While they have little left to do, they continue to gobble up valuable tax dollars in a state plagued by spiraling deficits. Massive layoffs and curtailment of truly essential governmental services are ahead with defeat of the Fair Tax initiative and continued pandemic destruction of our economy. The alternative? Sizable tax increases on every Illinois taxpayer from our regressive flat tax. Both painful options are more likely. Consolidation of units of government in Illinois is more essential than ever. We have plenty to consolidate as our 6,963 such units lead the nation, 2,092 more than second place Pennsylvania with a hundred thousand more residents.

Why focus on townships? They spend extravagantly on minimal functions that could easily be parceled out to the counties, cities and state. My DuPage Township of Milton spends over $2.5 million annually simply to issue tax assessments, hand out aid to the needy, and maintain roads not covered by the state or county in unincorporated areas. Milton residents are not getting a bang for their tax buck....just a whimper. Many Milton residents aren't even aware Milton Township government exists. Election of its 4 trustees and 4 managers occurs at the off year Consolidated Election which has a shamefully low voter turnout; just 14.8% in 2019. This makes the township office essentially a sinecure for office holders who hang on endlessly to this wasteful governmental unit largely under the radar of public scrutiny.

Alas, abolishing a township is daunting goal. All nine DuPage townships would need to be voted out of existence simultaneously by an election referendum. That should not dissuade DuPage's 657,000 voters from examining the need to eliminate its 9 townships. Illinois’ fiscal crisis escalates daily. At the least we must begin to scrutinize township functions and budget to help confront our untenable fiscal crisis.