Nothing thrives in Illinois like local government -- almost 7,000 units that tax, spend and drive up debt in a state struggling to pay off vendors and cover almost $100 billion of unfunded pension liabilities.
More than any other state, Illinois illustrates how local taxing bodies flourish across the U.S., whether urban or rural, Republican or Democrat. The governments duplicate services and burn tax dollars at the same time states slash money for education and Washington cuts discretionary spending.
In Illinois, which has the 11th highest state and local tax burden in the U.S., overlapping government agencies managing everything from mosquito abatement to fire protection collect billions of dollars, employ tens of thousands and consume resources that could help pay pension deficits and $7.5 billion in outstanding government bills.
“The big focus is on Washington D.C. and deficits and tax increases,” said Dan Cronin, chairman of the DuPage County board in the longtime Republican stronghold west of Chicago. “But people frequently overlook a significant chunk represented by under-the-radar government -- quiet, sleepy, unaccountable.”
Across the country, there are 38,266 special purpose districts, or government units distinct from cities, counties and schools, each with its own ability to raise money. Since President Ronald Reagan declared in his 1981 inaugural address that government “is not the solution to our problem -- government is the problem,” their numbers have jumped 32 percent.
The increase stands in sharp contrast to another area of local government: public-school districts that often levy their own taxes. Their numbers dropped 13 percent in the period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Much of that decline occurred in rural counties hit by decades of depopulation.
The government bodies include a mosquito abatement district in suburban Chicago that spends three-quarters of its budget on pay and benefits -- and more on pensions than insecticide. The districts have been around since the 1920s, when they were created to fight malaria. They have resisted recent efforts to consolidate as state officials have called them a waste of taxpayer money.
Even when they are needed -- Illinois had the most cases of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus in a decade last year -- they can be ineffective. Jim Sexton, the mayor of Evergreen Park, contracted West Nile and was hospitalized for six weeks, although four entities spend money to combat the disease in his village alone.
‘Less is More’
“Less is more,” said Sexton, who lost 65 pounds and suffers lingering nerve damage. “If you didn’t have three or four different government agencies involved in coordinating something you certainly would be able to eliminate some of the pay that’s being given and you could probably put more toward the effort.”