Illinois has more units of government than any other state and activists’ efforts to reduce that number have come up short.
>The State Journal Register reports that Illinois is home to almost 7,000 different bodies each with its own administrative needs, equipment, budget, and taxing ability.
Coming in a far second is Pennsylvania with about 5,000 units.
Despite cries to consolidate overlapping school districts, abolish unnecessary townships and streamline government services, the number of units of Illinois government has decreased by only twenty-six in the last five years.
The BGA policy unit has called for a reduction in the number of stand-alone government units along with the consolidation and sharing of government services and systems where they overlap.
Specifically, a BGA investigation found that Illinois has more townships than any other state, and that of many of these townships provide services already or otherwise easily provided by other municipalities.
