Editorial: Move ahead on takeover of township road duties
Can 16 miles of roads be plowed and salted, patched and resurfaced for less than $1.86 million a year?
Naperville thinks so, and proposes taking over the job from Naperville Township's road department to cut the cost down to about $1 million.
The idea clearly merits strong consideration, and we couldn't be more in support of moving ahead with it.
City employees came up with the proposal under the umbrella of government consolidation, a mission of Gov. Bruce Rauner that's overseen by Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti of Wheaton.
But township road departments, especially those in densely populated Cook and DuPage counties, often have been seen as the low-hanging fruit in efforts to cut the property tax burden. The regional civic group Metropolis Strategies pinpointed township road departments as ripe for elimination back in 2011 and former Gov. Pat Quinn signed a law that year allowing township boards to put a question on the ballot asking voters to decide whether to abolish their road districts.
A few townships, such as DuPage Township in Will County and Barrington Township in Cook County, operate without road districts.
But consolidating or abolishing road districts hasn't taken off, partly because township road commissioners are elected officials who generally aren't enthusiastic about cutting back their departments.
Naperville Township Highway Commissioner Stan Wojtasiak falls into that camp, doubting whether substituting city road service will actually save money and unhappy about the prospects for four of his six employees. In its proposal, Naperville would take on only two equipment operators.
The employees' futures would have to be taken into account, but we strongly support giving consolidation a try.
Another complication raised by Wojtasiak - that the city proposal assumes the township would turn over its fleet of plowing and maintenance vehicles - surely could be worked out.
Naperville Township Supervisor Rachel Ossyra is on board, saying elected officials are obligated to find ways to work more efficiently.
Township road districts in less-populated parts of the suburbs might justify their role in managing many miles of semirural roads. But in townships with a few miles to tend, we just don't see the point.
It's high time to test out the premise of cost savings and efficiency, and we congratulate Naperville and Naperville Township Supervisor Ossyra for moving forward.