Governor Bruce Rauner stopped by the DuPage County Board today to sign House Bill 5123.
The legislation gives DuPage County the power to dissolve its election commission and consolidate its functions with the county clerk’s office. It’s a law that was supported by several DuPage delegates in Springfield, and was spearheaded at the DuPage County board by Chairman Dan Cronin.
“Statewide 98 percent of the county clerk’s currently administer local elections,” said Cronin. “We expect the consolidation of these two offices will save hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars annually, and will put us on a way toward eliminating a total of seven units of local government right here in DuPage County.”
The consolidation was put as a referendum on the March 20 ballot, with 56 percent of voters in favor of it.
Officials say merging the two offices could save taxpayers at least $300,000 a year by combining staff, streamlining services, and eliminating an unnecessary layer of government.
“This is a bill that takes another step to help alleviate the tax burden on our local homeowners and property tax payers,” added Rauner. “We suffer in Illinois from some of the highest property taxes in America, and it is not a coincidence that we also have more units of local government than any other state in America.”
Governor Rauner said he wants to see more government consolidation throughout the state.
Bill 5123 takes effect January 1, 2019.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
