'Story Of Illinois' Told In Elmhurst-Area Dispute: Official

ELMHURST, IL — Illinois has nearly 7,000 local government entities, far more than any other state, even those much larger in population.

Illinois politicians often call for reducing that number. But it's a difficult task to eliminate any entity.

Case in point: The legislation to dissolve a fire district for the unincorporated area between Elmhurst and Bensenville. Even the district's trustees call it a "paper" entity.

For more than three decades, Bensenville Fire District No. 1 has been without fire trucks or a station. It simply sends most of its property tax money to the city of Elmhurst and Bensenville Fire District No. 2, which serves its namesake municipality. The city of Elmhurst covers the unincorporated area south of Grand Avenue, District No. 2 serves north of Grand.

Last year, the fire district in the unincorporated area collected $290,000 in property taxes. Its only job is the mere act of sending a big check annually to Elmhurst and District No. 2.

Despite that simple duty, bureaucracy is inevitably involved. For starters, the trustees each get $1,000 a year. That's in contrast to the state's school and park districts, where board members get paid nothing and arguably do far more work than those in a "paper" district.

District No. 1 also pays resident Paul DeMichele $250 a month to handle paperwork, for a total of $3,000 a year. And the district pays its lawyer, Pat Bond, hundreds of dollars annually.

Bensenville Village Manager Evan Summers wants to dissolve District No. 1 and have District No. 2 assume the unincorporated territory. He said he did not understand why a separate government body was needed to send money to two other entities each year.

Then there is the question of DeMichele's role. He spoke to the Elmhurst City Council this week to oppose the legislation dissolving the fire district, proposed by state Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison.

He didn't give his title to the council. He is sometimes referred to as a consultant. Trustee Paul Guerino said he believed DeMichele's title was administrative assistant to the board's president. DeMichele told Patch he was the controller.

In 2019, Summers filed a public records request for DeMichele's contract with District No. 1. He said he never received a response.

"We have been trying to figure out what he does," Summer said.

Asked about this, both Guerino and DeMichele said a contract has been drafted for DeMichele in the last year. Patch has filed a public records request for it. DeMichele said the district's lawyer must review the request before the document is released.

In an interview, DeMichele said residents in the unincorporated area would see their property taxes triple for fire services if the legislation passes. But he said that would mean no proportionate increase in benefits for residents. He said they would be better off with the existing arrangement.

Summers, however, said Illinois has too many units of government. He said residents in the far more populous Fire District 2 would see a tax decrease as a result.

Speaking of local officials, he said, "we all agree that having an unaccountable fire district is odd. It would be good government to eliminate it."

But he said abolishing any government body is tough. He said the resistance even to the ending of a "paper" fire district is the "story of Illinois."