Wheels in motion for dissolving the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District
The Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District is nearing the end.
Legislation dissolving the district has passed the state House. It is currently being considered in the Senate.
In March, a referendum to dissolve the district failed to receive support, with 48 voting against and only 5 in favor. Following that failure, efforts to close it moved to the state legislature.
The district is still collecting property taxes. However, it ceased providing fire and emergency medical services in October, and the area is now covered by Mount Prospect.
With a shrinking tax base due to annexations by surrounding municipalities, the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District had been running out of money.
But the district remains in a holding pattern. It has no board members. As a result, the district cannot approve payment of current bills.
The bill now in Springfield would dissolve the district and wind up its business affairs. After the Cook County board approves accounting showing that the district’s debts have been paid and its property conveyed to Mount Prospect, the fire district’s remaining funds would be transferred to Mount Prospect.
“The point of the bill is to protect the taxpayers that have paid into this fire district, as well as the people who were previously protected by the fire district service,” the House bill’s chief sponsor in the Senate, Sen. Laura Murphy of Des Plaines, said. “Most of those live in unincorporated Elk Grove Township.”
“That area that they provided protection to, a lot of it is manufactured housing,” she said. “They don’t have fire hydrants, for the most part.”
Mount Prospect has taken over the fire and emergency services for the area the district formerly covered in unincorporated Elk Grove Township, as well as such fire district equipment as a tanker truck. It responded to a fire at the Willoway Terrace mobile home park in the district’s former coverage area last month.
The village is also renovating the fire district’s station at 1415 E. Algonquin Road in Mount Prospect. Village Manager Michael Cassady said the work should be done by July.
Meanwhile, last week, the Cook County Board passed a resolution approving a new special taxing district that will provide the money to fund Mount Prospect’s future fire operations in Elk Grove Township.