Township government should be accessible, transparent, and fiscally sound by avoiding redundancies with other government entities and encouraging intergovernmental agreements.
Adopted May 2022
Full Position
Our League supports the annual, uniform collection of data related to township services in DuPage County and the statistical analysis of this data as it is relevant to more efficient utilization or elimination of these services.
Our League believes special township services requiring their own tax levies be reviewed and evaluated on an established schedule to assess their relevance and effectiveness.
Our League supports nonpartisan township elections as all other local elections conducted in odd-numbered years (i.e., the Consolidated Elections) are nonpartisan.
Should township elections remain partisan; our League supports moving township elections to the General Elections held in even-numbered years.
Our League supports the establishment of minimum qualifications and/or certifications for candidates seeking to run for Highway Commissioner.
Background to Position
Township government is the oldest form of government in the United States, dating back to 1636, yet it is currently present in just twenty states. Townships in Illinois were first approved in 1848; there are currently 1428 townships in 85 of the 102 Illinois counties.
Townships are each approximately 36 square miles in area. Almost half of Illinois’ townships have a population of less than 1,000. Twenty-two townships in Illinois have populations greater than 100,000, and seven of those are among the nine townships in DuPage County.
By law, Illinois townships are charged with three basic functions: 1) general assistance for the indigent (food, shelter and emergency relief); 2) the assessment of real property for the basis of local taxation; and 3) maintenance of all roads and bridges outside federal, state, and other local jurisdiction. Beyond the mandated services, township governments often provide senior citizen programs, youth programs, assistance to the disabled, health services and public cemetery maintenance, in accordance with the Township Code.
The property tax allocation to township government in DuPage County is 3% or less of annual property taxes.
This League position provides a baseline and a springboard to educate ourselves and township citizens about township government and to advocate for change and improvement in township government.