‘Wake-up call’: Why some say DuPage County could benefit from home rule

DuPage County officials could revisit a discussion of whether to pursue home-rule powers in light of a controversial measure that emerged in Springfield to save public transit from a massive budget shortfall.

County Board Chair Deb Conroy last month denounced a provision in a bill as a “cash grab from the suburbs.” One piece of that proposal would have clawed back millions of dollars in Regional Transportation Authority sales tax dollars allocated to the collar counties for transportation and public safety.

The spring legislative session ultimately ended with transit funding still up in the air. But it’s prompted at least one county board member to revive the home-rule topic.

“Her efforts, I think, went a long way to stopping it,” Jim Zay said of Conroy, a former state lawmaker. “But I think this should be a huge wake-up call for our county board.”

During a DuPage County Board meeting on Tuesday, Zay suggested that the county initiate the process to become home rule.

“We shouldn’t have to go with hat in hand to Springfield all the time,” Zay said. “Again, the chair did a great job. But how long does that go on?”

Zay has long made the case for home rule. For example, Zay has previously said that if DuPage had home-rule powers, it would have the ability to ban adult businesses in unincorporated areas.

“I think since the majority of our municipalities are home rule, there’s no reason why the second-largest county in the state of Illinois, with 940,000 people, shouldn’t be home rule and have more of our destiny in our own hands,” Zay said.

Still, it’s been a third-rail issue because home rule also would increase the county’s taxing authority. Decades ago, voters ousted former county board Chairman Jack Knuepfer after he proposed it.

Zay and other Republicans on the board have acknowledged those concerns by pointing to the county’s history of fiscal discipline.

“This board has always been, over the years, very good on balancing budget and having one of the lowest tax rates in the county,” Zay said.

Home-rule status, Zay said, “gives us another tool just in case someone does take funds from us.”

“Let’s have discussions about it. Let’s see if we can get it on the ballot in March or November and talk about it,” Zay said.

County board member Brian Krajewski, chair of DuPage’s animal services committee, said it would help when it comes to animal advocacy.

“We could have banned the sale of puppy mill dogs in DuPage, which we weren’t able to do, but many of our DuPage municipalities were able to do that,” he said.

Conroy said she’s willing to have discussions on the issue so that the board fully understands what is involved in becoming home rule and what it would mean to county residents.

“I don’t like to do anything until everyone is fully informed and able to make a decision,” she said.

Conroy expressed her opposition to the Senate plan in a strongly worded letter, warning that the county would “be forced into massive layoffs, crippling our ability to provide safe streets and neighborhoods for our nearly 1 million residents.”

“There was no way that we were going to stand for that,” she said Tuesday. “And I want you to know that between staff and our lobbyists and many legislators in Springfield who were very accessible to me, we got through that … and we will continue to make sure that does not happen.”

— Daily Herald writers Marni Pyke and Alicia Fabbre contributed to this report

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250610/news/wake-up-call-why-some-say-dupage-county-could-benefit-from-home-rule/