Naperville officials give preliminary OK to referendum questions
Talk of government consolidation breeds controversy, so the Naperville City Council plans to ask voters in November if they want their elected officials to pursue such conversations.
The council gave preliminary approval to the wordings of two nonbinding referendum questions for the Nov. 8 election that would ask about abolishment of township government and collaboration with one township on road services.
The questions will need final approval at a later meeting, but they're all but certain to be placed on the ballot.
The questions would say:
"Should the city of Naperville and the Naperville Township road district enter into an agreement for combined roadway services as proposed by the Naperville City Council on June 7, 2016 in order to reduce the real estate tax burden on all Naperville Township taxpayers?"
And "Should a township government be abolished in the city of Naperville when efficiencies and savings in delivery of township services can be demonstrated by either the city of Naperville or another governmental body performing the same services?"
The move to poll voters is born out of a debate that began in February.
The city pitched a deal under which it would assume road maintenance, snow plowing and landscaping services for 49.3 lane miles of unincorporated Naperville Township roads.
The deal proposed June 7 - referenced in the second proposed ballot question - would begin Jan. 1 and last four years, charging the township road district roughly $1 million a year for road, snow and landscape services including brush collection, leaf pickup and street sweeping at the same level incorporated residents receive.
The city estimates the deal would save $800,000 a year from recent road district spending of $1.8 million, but Naperville Township Highway Commissioner Stan Wojtasiak says that estimate is overblown because his spending included paving and money set aside for a future road expansion.
Wojtasiak so far has rejected a few versions of the deal, so council members want to see if they have resident support for pursuing it further.
The road services question and the broader question about township abolishment are nonbinding because the city does not have the authority to eliminate any other unit of government or force Wojtasiak or anyone in the highway commissioner role to accept a service deal.
"This is really just to get the temperature of our residents to find out if they want us to continue to pursue these types of consolidation initiatives in our community," Mayor Steve Chirico said.
But council member Kevin Coyne said he hopes the rules could evolve if voters voice strong support for consolidation and it leads legislators in Springfield to take action.
"Part of the point of this may be to lead to changes," he said.