Whittling government excess? Start with the townships

Editorial Board

A quick quiz about government spending: Should the purchase of a $329 Levenger purse be regarded as a legitimate government expense? What about bills for dinner and drinks at Hooters, or tickets to Disneyland? Or $349 for cashmere and cardigan sweaters, and a wool coat?

The answer is no way, underlined and in bold. Yet these were expenses charged to township credit cards at the Algonquin Township highway commissioner’s office, when it was led by Robert Miller, the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin reports. Those and other expenses paid for with taxpayer money under Miller’s watch are now the subject of a lawsuit filed by the current highway commissioner, Andrew Gasser, who is challenging their validity.

Misuse of taxpayer money happens everywhere in government, but township governments are especially prone to it. Why? Because when it comes to visibility, townships are the dark web of local government in Illinois. It’s a fair bet that most Illinoisans don’t know who their township officials are, let alone what townships do.

Here’s a primer. Township government in Illinois has three functions: repair of roads not maintained by other levels of government, functions related to property assessment, and financial assistance for the poor through services such as food banks. These are all functions that have merit — and that, as in many states, can be provided by municipal and/or county governments.

Here’s something else you probably didn’t know about township government. In Illinois, there are 1,428 townships — a big reason this state has more units of local government than any other. By contrast, many states don’t see a need for any township governments. In southern Illinois, 17 counties don’t use township government, and they get along just fine.

Townships are America’s oldest unit of government, predating the Declaration of Independence. They may have had utility in bygone days when riding a horse-drawn wagon to and from the county seat was a substantial journey. So we’re hard-pressed to find reasons why townships are needed today. That said, township officials desperate to keep their sometimes well-pensioned jobs are a well-organized lobby; when this editorial appears, we’ll expect the self-praising letters to the editor in 3 … 2 … 1 ...

Ever so slowly, local governments are realizing this expensive obsolescence, and opting to jettison their township bureaucracies.

One of the more recent, prominent examples is Evanston. In 2014, voters chose to abolish Evanston Township and have the city’s government take over what the township did. As a result, Evanston taxpayers saved nearly $800,000 the year after the township disbanded.

That should inspire other cities and counties to jump on the bandwagon. The alleged shenanigans in Algonquin Township, which the Tribune reports are under investigation by the McHenry County state’s attorney’s office, have led to legislation proposed in Springfield that would allow voters in McHenry County to decide through a referendum whether to eliminate their township governments.

Last year, residents of Cook County’s northwest suburban Hanover Township voted to eliminate the township’s road district and highway commissioner. In DuPage County, voters in Naperville and Lisle opted to combine their township road districts, a move that was estimated to save $800,000 to $1.4 million annually.

That’s progress, but it’s a trickle. It’s time township abolition became a torrent.