Daily Herald opinion: Decommissioning of rural fire protection district is a positive thing for taxpayers
This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.
Nostalgia has its place. But sometimes an old building is just an old building. And sometimes a tradition is just a tradition.
There are plenty of reasons to wish the members of the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District well. They've done a good job for four decades protecting the lives and the property of those who live and do business within its borders.
Firefighting is very much like family. It's common to find multiple generations working in the same firehouse. People rightfully take pride in what they do. They deserve our appreciation.
But this is a fire protection district that has shrunk as the municipalities surrounding it have grown. It was created to fill in the gaps between communities that had their own fire service. And things have gotten to the point at which there isn't enough revenue from property taxes to support its function.
Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village and Des Plaines, the three municipalities that have encroached upon the unincorporated areas of Elk Grove Township have been pushing to fill the gap to providing fire protection to the district's 57 single-family homes in the Roppolo neighborhood north of Landmeier Road, four mobile home parks along Touhy Avenue and Elmhurst Road and several industrial and commercial properties on either side of Higgins Road the district has covered.
The rural fire district has steadfastly fought the measure.
It's understandable that those who have served the fire district would resist others taking it over. That's human nature. But government exists to serve the people who fund it, not the other way around.
Mind you, it wasn't employees of the fire district who have been providing the fire protection; the fire district most recently contracted with Metro Paramedic Services to do so. So the fire district has been little more than a board that collected taxes and purchased a service with it.
As of Sunday, it has ended operations. The municipalities will provide fire protection now.
We've long encouraged small governmental operations, such as fire districts, to merge when possible to reduce the overhead associated with running governmental bodies. It doesn't happen as often as it should. There is plenty more to be done with the dissolution of townships whose unincorporated areas have been annexed by municipalities. More still to be done with one- and two-school districts.
Beyond saving on the overhead of paying redundant leadership, larger organizations enjoy economies of scale in terms of buildings, equipment and supplies.
Illinois has just shy of 7,000 taxing bodies, by far the largest number of any state. It also has the second-largest property tax burden in the country. That is not likely to change unless we see more consolidation in the future.
The tax picture is not a good look for companies looking to move to Illinois. And it's not a good look for Illinoisans looking for reasons to stay.