New law allows for consolidation of local government in Lake County

SPRINGFIELD — A new consolidation law grants the Lake and McHenry County boards the ability to dissolve antiquated units of local government. “The legislation I passed allows the county to absorb units of government that can be more efficiently managed by the county,” said Bush, D-Grayslake.

Local districts such as drainage districts, tuberculosis districts and mosquito abatement districts are among those units that could be taken over by the county.

“Taxpayers have rightly raised concerns about how many units of government we have in Illinois, and what sort of a property tax burden it places on them,” Bush said. “This law is a workable, bipartisan solution that will give the Lake County Board the opportunity to dissolve redundant or antiquated layers of government. If voters disagree with the dissolution, they have the power to stop the process by voter referendum.”

With a population of about 13 million, Illinois has more than 7,000 units of local government. Texas has a population of about 27 million and about 5,200 units of local government, and California, population 39 million, has about 4,400.

The legislation had the support of the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois, the Better Government Association and Lake County government and was sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly.

“When DuPage County was given this option, they consolidated three of their 13 local government units,” Bush said. “This is an option that can and has worked and one that Lake County residents deserve to have in their toolbox. We hope this serves as a catalyst for other such efforts statewide.”

The new law extends the consolidation option from just DuPage County to include Lake and McHenry counties. The governor signed the legislation, House Bill 229, earlier this month.