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Thursday, August 31, 2017

New Law on Limited Township Consolidation



Governor Rauner recently signed Senate Bill 3, known as the Local Government Consolidation bill, into law as P.A. 100-0107. It amends the Township Code to allow for the consolidation and dissolution of townships through three different methods:

1. Two or more adjacent townships may, by resolution of the townships’ boards, propose consolidation by referendum of voters of each affected township into either a new township or into one of the existing townships.

2. A township may be dissolved and absorbed by two or more townships with which it shares borders. If the township boards of the dissolving and absorbing townships adopt a resolution to propose a referendum, voters of each affected township vote on the referendum at the next general election.

3. Townships that are coterminous with a municipality may be dissolved into the municipality by resolution of the township and  municipal boards and referendum of the voters of the township and municipality.

All of these methods require the assent of the township board to proceed. This will prevent a situation where the electors try to dissolve a township against the will of the township officials. 

Senate Bill 3 also removes the 126 square mile cap on the size of townships. 

An amendment filed shortly before the bill passed through the Senate removed a provision that tied this bill to the rest of the Senate’s Grand Bargain bill package. As a result, Senate Bill 3 will take effect on January 1, 2018, regardless of whether the other Grand Bargain bills become law.

You can read Senate Bill 3 here.

Post Authored by Jessica DeWalt, Ancel Glink

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