Efforts Continue To Consolidate Illinois Local Government Units

John Gregory -- Illinos Radio Network

Now that the governor is backing efforts to consolidate local government units, one state lawmaker has suggestions on where to start.

State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) feels former Gov. Pat Quinn never took consolidation seriously, despite the fact Illinois has more units of local government than any other state. With Gov. Bruce Rauner in charge, he feels there’s more of a push on this issue.

“I would start with townships first,” Franks said. “I would like at ways to cooperate and consolidate because we have a lot of townships that, for instance, have multiple road districts.”

After townships, Franks recommends the governor’s new consolidation task force look into combining school districts, especially those overseeing only one school.

Franks has already proposed two consolidation bills this session: one allowing counties statewide to combine certain units of government, and another which forbids state lawmakers from creating any new local government unit for four years.