Hainesville village board to learn about home rule
The Hainesville village board will learn more about home rule at a special meeting Thursday night.
Mayor Gerry Daley said he asked village attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer to give a presentation so the board can learn about the designation in case it becomes something officials want to pursue in the future.
"It's very preliminary," Daley said Wednesday. "I know home rule is out there and can be a tool for communities but neither myself or the board have an understanding of what the benefits or negatives are."
The Illinois constitution gives home-rule municipalities more power to govern. Home-rule towns are able to pass an ordinance on nearly any subject, so long as it pertains to the community. Towns without such powers are able to pass ordinances only on subjects state statutes grant the power to do so.
Every municipality with more than 25,000 residents is granted home-rule powers. Smaller municipalities, such as Hainesville - 3,597 residents, according to the 2010 census - can gain home-rule powers through a ballot referendum.
Those referendums have not been successful in the suburbs of late, in part, because of concern by residents their village leaders will use that power to create new taxes or fees they couldn't before.
In 2014, residents in Lake Zurich and Barrington overwhelmingly defeated separate home-rule referendums. Previously, there was a series of home-rule failures, including three times in Prospect Heights and once each in Itasca, Villa Park, Lake Zurich, Burlington and Long Grove.
Daley said he isn't sure if officials want to put such a question to residents.
"Since I was seated as mayor in May, I've been trying to look at anything and everything that could benefit the village," Daley said. "If this is something that the board or village wants to move toward, we need to understand it."