House passes McHenry County consolidation bill

A bill that would give McHenry County voters a more powerful voice in township consolidation is one step closer to becoming law.

Tackling local government waste could soon become easier in one northern Illinois county struggling with high property tax bills.

House Bill 4637, which would give McHenry County voters a greater say in township consolidation, passed out of the House of Representatives on an 80-22 vote April 17, with one lawmaker voting present.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, would allow a given township’s board of trustees in McHenry County to ask voters whether to dissolve their local township at the ballot box. There are currently 17 townships in the county, according to the Civic Federation.

HB 4637 would also allow residents to get the referendum question on the ballot themselves. By collecting a number of signatures that amounts to at least 5 percent of total votes cast in a previous election of similar consequence, residents could push the referendum question onto local ballots without the approval of the township.

In the event that a consolidation referendum succeeds, HB 4637 stipulates that property taxes levied within the boundaries of a dissolved township not exceed 90 percent of the original levy.

This provision should find warm reception among residents of McHenry County, where property taxes are so daunting that they may be depressing the region’s housing market. A recent study by ATTOM Data Solutions pegged the median McHenry County property tax bill at more than $6,300 for a single-family home.

Government consolidation has already found favor among McHenry County taxpayers – as evidenced by the success of McHenry County resident Bob Anderson

Running for a seat on the McHenry Township board in 2017, Anderson’s consolidation-centric campaign platform earned him the highest vote total of any candidate.

And now, McHenry Township residents will get to vote on whether to consolidate a local road district this November.

But this option shouldn’t be limited to McHenry Township. All local governments – not just those within McHenry County’s boundaries – ought to be subject to the cost-efficiency verdicts of the taxpayers they serve.

Illinois’ nearly 7,000 layers of government – more than any other state in the country – are often duplicative and overlapping, at times redundantly performing identical services and subsidizing exorbitant employee compensation. The cost of maintaining so many expensive local governments feeds Illinoisans’ outsized property tax burden.

High taxes are Illinoisans’ most frequently cited reason for wishing to leave the state. Fleeing past state lines has become a lurch toward relief for too many Illinoisans. Entrusting taxpayers with the ability to eliminate local government waste is one necessary step toward controlling public costs and easing their tax burden.

Lawmakers would be wise to allow HB 4637 to proceed to the governor’s desk. And they shouldn’t stop there.