Group representing cities, towns, and villages of Illinois is out with its 2021 wish list

Posted on April 19, 2021
Brad Cole, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League, implores state lawmakers to increase – not decrease – state funding for cities, towns, and villages. (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The group which represents the cities, towns, and villages of Illinois is out with its 2021 wish list. And the priorities, says Illinois Municipal League executive director Brad Cole, are pretty much the same as in the past few years. 

Fewer unfunded mandates. Restored support for local governments.

“The Local Government Distributive Fund is the local share of state income tax and was originally ten percent,” said Cole. Now we are down to about six percent, and it keeps getting cut and cut. The governor this year had proposed to reduce it again, and that means fewer dollars coming to local governments to do the programs and services that citizens want and desire.”

And Cole would like to treat pensions as one would refinance a house, adding nobody has missed a pension check.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]. 

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…