Merger, mosquitos, money: Cronin on the issues facing DuPage

Merging two county offices, expanding the fight against mosquitoes and avoiding a property tax increase are some of the key issues DuPage County officials expect to face in 2017.

County board Chairman Dan Cronin recently shared his view of the coming year, the seventh of his administration, with the Daily Herald.

Cronin said 2016 was challenging for DuPage because of the "climate of uncertainty" created by the budget stalemate in Springfield.

"Funding sources are always a source of anxiety for us because we don't know what's certain and what's not," he said. "We have to fulfill our mission here in that climate. We were able to come up with a balanced budget. But it was very, very difficult."

Balancing the county's budget for next year will be even harder, he said.

While the county has kept its property tax levy flat for nine straight years, Cronin says he doesn't know if that will continue in fiscal 2018.

"Raising taxes is not really something I even want to think about," he said. "But as we go down this path, everything will be on the table."

One option Cronin says he absolutely won't consider is pursuing home rule power.

Home rule would give the county additional powers of regulation and taxation. DuPage's non-home rule status is one reason Fitch Ratings downgraded the county's credit rating to AA+ from AAA in September.

"We're not going to try to become home rule," Cronin said. "We're comfortable being a government of limited power and limited authority."

Instead, Cronin said the county needs to be more aggressive about doing more with less.

The county already is working to save taxpayers money by entering into partnerships with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.

The entities, for example, worked together on a recent tree removal project along Naperville Road. They also pursued an information technology initiative and cooperative buying opportunities.

The forest preserve reported more joint opportunities are being explored, including tree assessments, naturalized plantings, mowing, trail and pavement maintenance and sewer cleaning.

"There has been a good deal of functional consolidation - working together, shared services," Cronin said. "The progress on working together has been pretty good."

There's also talk of a countywide strategy to battle mosquitoes. Now, DuPage has dozens of municipalities, townships and service districts targeting the insects.

In 2013, a mosquito abatement task force advised exploring whether DuPage's nine townships should oversee all of the county's abatement efforts. But that idea would require the forest preserve district to become involved.

Meanwhile, the forest preserve district, which owns about 12 percent of the land in DuPage, refused to spray insecticides to kill adult mosquitoes because those products could kill other insects.

"There was a deep-rooted culture there where they didn't want to address mosquito abatement through some of the techniques that we were promoting," Cronin said.

But Cronin says "significant progress" has been made in the county's discussions with the forest preserve. He said an announcement about countywide mosquito abatement could be made during the first quarter of the year. Cronin wouldn't elaborate, but said it would require state legislation.

"We may see some fruits of that labor by the end of the year or the beginning of 2018," he said.

Another proposal state lawmakers will be asked to consider is merging the county clerk's office with the DuPage Election Commission.

The election commission would become a division of the clerk's office. A five-member Board of Election Commissioners would set policy, hold meetings and receive public comment. The county clerk would be chairman.

"I'm excited about this new model for the election commission," Cronin said.

Cronin said the plan will provide "significant" savings for taxpayers if the merger becomes a reality. It also would pave the way for the county to "run a better election," he said.

A public hearing about the merger proposal will be held after the Jan. 10 county board meeting.

Cronin said he's confident the county will have a positive year.

"We are leading the way for smart government, for consolidated government, for shared services," he said. "We embrace our role as leaders in that regard."