March 28, 2024
Local Editorials

Our view: Nunda Township consolidation: Yes, for now

Nunda Township officials made a political play in the fall that they found quite clever.

Rather than wait for someone else to put a township elimination question on the ballot for voters, Nunda Township officials devised their own, calling for eliminating the township in 2037.

That’s the question township voters will see on their primary ballots Tuesday. It’s not a good solution, but if it is rejected, the measure has to wait almost two years before it can be posed again.

If it fails, township backers also can say people don’t want to eliminate townships.

There’s nothing for it but to vote in favor of this measure. Illinois’ property taxes are too high, it owes too much to its public employees, and it has too many units of local government.

This should not be the final word on the matter. Whatever loss the community might suffer through the loss of Nunda Township and its road district won’t require 17 years of preparation. The law allows townships to be dissolved within 90 days of a vote to do so. A more reasonable time frame might be six months, a year, maybe even two – but not a generation.

Voters should approve this measure, and then gather the signatures needed to put a proposal for a sensible elimination plan on the ballot at the next possible opportunity.