Study revives notion of ending townships

A new study by a Roosevelt University professor is once again raising the question of whether townships are a useful and necessary level of government.

"I try to be as objective as I can, but all the data seems to point in one direction," said David Hamilton, chairman of Roosevelt's Political Science and Public Administration Department.

Hamilton said his findings reinforce the old argument that townships lack the cost-effectiveness of other local governments, like municipalities and counties.

But township officials and their proponents say such perennial suggestions of doing away with townships tend to gloss over their true value and services.

Bryan Smith, executive director of Springfield-based Township Officials of Illinois, said townships have survived past challenges -- like a late-'90s referendum in McHenry County -- because they're best equipped to respond quickly to residents' needs.

But he believes townships regularly end up abolition targets because their quiet efficiency and lack of fanfare make them appear easy prey.

Smith also thinks, however, that residents understand deep down what townships do, noting the McHenry initiative failed by nearly a 3-to-1 ratio.

Hanover Township Clerk Brian McGuire has defended township government before over his 15 years of experience. He said you have to look at more than numbers.

"When you talk about government, government is not always about cost-efficiency," he said. "Government is about service delivery."

But McGuire did question one of the conclusions the study made with its figures -- that Hanover Township is overstaffed for its population. McGuire noted that the study used an erroneous population figure to calculate the staffing ratio.

Hamilton acknowledged the first two digits of the population are accidentally transposed in his study as 38,479, instead of 83,479.

Schaumburg Township Supervisor Mary Wroblewski also believes responsiveness to citizens is what sets townships apart -- whether it be clearing up after last August's storms or providing help with property tax appeals without having to drive to the city.

"Township government is the oldest form of government and the government closest to the people," Wroblewski said.

In addition to assisting seniors, youths and the disabled, the township maintains unincorporated roads and draws long lines for its tax appeal services.

"We believe that everyone should pay taxes, but only their fair share," she said.

And as a hospital administrator for 25 years, Wroblewski said she's familiar enough with big budgets to be comfortable that Schaumburg Township isn't wasting residents' money.

She feels the argument that townships should be eliminated and their tasks doled out to other agencies could be arbitrarily made about any kind of local government.

Wroblewski also said eliminating townships would result in a costly and problematic transition period, similar to recent suggestions about Northwest suburbs breaking away from Cook County.

But Hamilton, while skeptical of the likelihood of his findings bringing real change, disputed many of these arguments for the survival of townships.

"There'd be some issues and costs in eliminating townships, but they'd be one-time costs and then there'd be savings," he said.

He disagreed with the notion that most people know what townships do -- pointing to the particularly low public attendance of township meetings.

"That's just a specious argument," Hamilton said. "They're the government that no one knows about, so how could they be closest to the people?"

Hamilton plans to wait and see if anyone else picks up on his findings and does anything with them. The most likely candidates, he feels, are county commissioners or state representatives interested in consolidation of government, or even grassroots groups.

But he believes the inertia and governmental support that saved McHenry County townships a decade ago may always be a factor.

"Very frankly, I think I'm tilting at windmills," Hamilton said. "It's easy for township officials afraid of losing their jobs to play on this fear of losing local control."

Township costs to taxpayers vary widely

Ratio of township employees to population

Township Population Personnel costs *Employee FTE Ratio

Barrington 13,500 $141,774 6 1:2,250

Elk Grove 88,000 $978,517 27 1:3,259

Hanover **83,479 $1.75 million 44.25 1:1,886

Leyden 94,685 $2.4 million 47.75 1:1,983

Maine 135,623 $1.88 million 38.75 1:3,500

Palatine 113,000 $1.14 million 34.5 1:3,275

Schaumburg 134,114 $1.99 million 54.75 1:2,450

Wheeling 155,900 $847,930 20.25 1:7,699

A look at road maintenance costs and mileage

Township Road/bridge expenses *** Unincorp. miles Cost per mile

****Barrington N/A 4.1 N/A

Elk Grove $313,594 4.9 $63,609

Hanover $436,171 11.2 $39,014

Leyden $1.5 million 25.3 $59,464

Maine $1.32 million 19.6 $67,345

Palatine $1 million 27.7 $36,676

Schaumburg $467,859 9.9 $47,402

Wheeling $674,987 8.2 $82,820

Source: Study "Township Government: Essential or Expendable? The Case of Illinois and Cook County" by David Hamilton, professor of public administration and chairman of Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Roosevelt University. Study source was Illinois Comptroller's office.

* Employee full-time equivalent was calculated by dividing part-time employees by 4 and adding that to full-time employees.

** Hanover Township population and ratio adjusted to correct erroneous figure in original study.

*** Number of miles of roads maintained by township. Figures from 2000 Census.

**** Barrington Township roads maintained by Palatine Township per agreement and state law.