Lawmakers have been working to help alleviate the property tax burden in an effort to get homeowners to stay in the state. | File photo
Lawmakers have been working to help alleviate the property tax burden in an effort to get homeowners to stay in the state. | File photo
People living in Illinois pay some of the highest property taxes in the country, growing “three times faster than the state’s median household income since 1990,” according to state Rep. Allen Skillicorn's (R-East Dundee).
Illinois residents have been moving to other states at numbers that have not been seen before according to AllenSkillicorn.com, and some lawmakers have been working to help alleviate the property tax burden in an effort to get homeowners to stay in the state.
“We need to rigorously attack property taxes. It’s the No. 1 issue," Skillicorn said. "That’s what people are crying for. They need relief. They need property tax relief. We need to consolidate local units of government. Illinois has over 7,000 units of government. That has to be consolidated down to a more manageable number and we need to rein in and retire pension debt.”
DuPage County has been allowed to start the consolidation process according to AllenSkillicorn.com. They have started eliminating government agencies, cutting payrolls, overhauling employee benefits, and other measures that they hope will save $116 million in the next 20 years, according to the website.
A task force has been put together to tackle the property tax issue and they have come up with 27 recommendations to make them lower, according to AllenSkillicorn.com. Some of the recommendations include:
***Enact a four-year freeze on creating new local governments.
***Give Illinois citizens the power to consolidate or dissolve local governments via referendum.
***Expand DuPage County’s pilot program to all counties in Illinois.
***Allow all townships in the state to consolidate with municipalities covering the same boundaries.
***In order to allow consolidation of two or more townships into one, remove the limitation capping township size at 126 square miles
“Illinois needs bold and transformed reforms," Skillicorn said. "We really need to focus on freezing and lowering property taxes. My district has some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Literally, some my constituents see two to three times the national average of property taxes. So again we just need bold leadership and transformative policies to save ... the great state of Illinois.”
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