Consolidation is place to start recovery

Every year that goes by, townships across northern Illinois are becoming more and more obsolete. Most if not all of the functions can be morphed into already existing infrastructure in our local communities. In a cash-strapped state like ours, we need to pinch every penny we can, not carelessly throw money down the toilet.

A recent report shows that Maine Township can't find a way to spend the money it has. And the cherry on top is that they spend almost four times the amount they give out to needy residents on salaries to give out the money. That math isn't fuzzy, it's the way business is done in Illinois, and it has to change.

Add to that mix a recommendation by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago that we need to institute a tax on retirement income, money that we already paid taxes on when we earned it.

Hey, Springfield and Chicago, stop raising our taxes on everything. Stop telling us it's our problem to bail the state out of a mess we had nothing to do with. And stop wasting our money by paying outrageous salaries to people to do nothing.

By consolidating local governments and school districts, you could not only save the state some money, but show our residents that you have the brains to get us out of this mess without stealing our wallet. It's what we elected you to do. Now go do it.

Scot Sinclair

Third Lake