Eliminating townships not cost-effective

Earlier this year, the Governor's Task Force on Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates released its final report providing 27 recommendations on how to lower property taxes through consolidating layers of government and reducing the number of financially burdensome unfunded mandates.

While many of these proposals are well intended and appear clear-cut, we believe that the elimination of townships would only lead to potentially higher taxes and stretch the already strained resources of municipalities.

In our communities, the loss of the services provided by Hanover Township would have a negative impact on the quality of life for many of our most vulnerable residents. We do not believe our residents would be better served if each municipality expended the resources to create their own food pantry, senior center with the transportation, or youth after-school programs and therapy, among other needed services.

If Hanover Township were consolidated into Cook County, many of our residents have concerns regarding the county's ability to deliver these services in a cost effective and responsive manner.

The years of mismanagement from our leaders in Springfield have left too many of our residents out in the cold when it comes to taking care of their needs. Local government, like Hanover Township, is reliable and efficient in ensuring there are no gaps and that no one falls through the cracks in service delivery.

We have worked hard to create cooperative programs, increase efficiencies and in the past, reduced redundancies. We will continue to work with our local governments to serve our residents in the most cooperative way possible.

Local government consolidation deserves serious consideration, but losing the high-quality services provided by townships that our residents need would be a disservice to the taxpayers and would not be in the best interest of our communities.

Mayor David Kaptain, Elgin; Mayor Rod Craig, Hanover Park; Trustee Michael Baumer, Streamwood; and seven other local-government officials