Chicago Tribune. May 3, 2021. Editorial: Applause for merging, purging Illinois’ many layers of government Toss a rock in Illinois and you’re bound to hit a unit of government. Mosquito abatement districts, townships, drainage districts, joint water agencies, housing authorities, sanitary districts – Illinois has them all, in abundance. The official tally is 6,918, higher than in any other state. But that might be a serious undercount. A recent report by the Civic Federation found the actual total to be 8,923. Only one other state has more than 5,000. We have more special purpose units than Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin combined. If the total tax burden on residents is ever going to be reduced, some of those government bodies have to go. The Lake County Board noted in 2018, in reference to the Lakes Region Sanitary District, ‘œEvery time customers of the LRSD flush their toilet, they pay four taxes and fees to three different government entities.’� Cost is not the only consequence of the profusion. Voters can’t possibly keep track of all the elected and appointed officials who run such bodies and have so much effect on the lives of ordinary people. In the April 6 election, 345 offices appeared on ballots in Lake County – and 220 races were uncontested. It makes a sham of democracy. ___ Chicago Sun-Times. April 29, 2021. Editorial: Pritzker serves up a powerful plan to move Illinois toward greener energy – but he could do more Illinois also still needs Exelon’s nuclear plants, which provide zero-carbon power, while renewable energy is ramping up. Gov. Pritzker’s clean energy plan, introduced Thursday, has a lot to like in it. But it needs an upgrade before the Legislature’s adjournment on May 31. The good news is Pritzker is at the negotiating table three years after the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition began working to enact a law that will move Illinois toward a smart, environment-friendly power sector. The governor has adopted many of the features in the coalition’s Clean Energy Jobs Act and a separate bill titled the Path to 100. He essentially ignored a competing bill seen by some as favorable for utility interests called Climate Jobs Illinois. Here’s what Pritzker’s bill, called the Consumers and Climate First Act, definitely gets right: It eliminates automatic ‘œformula’� rates that raise power bills without utilities having to justify increases before the Illinois Commerce Commission. It gets rid of surcharges that have been unnecessarily driving up home gas bills in Chicago. And according to an independent study Pritzker commissioned, Exelon would get $6 billion to $10 billion less over 10 years than it had hoped for to keep two financially threatened nuclear plants open, although old hands in Springfield expect Exelon will get more than Pritzker recommends once the Legislature gets its hands on the bill. Boost for electric cars Pritzker’s $4,000 rebate for electric vehicles would be one of the highest in the nation, though his goal of a million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 is fewer than some environmentalists have hoped for. The bill also imposes a carbon fee of $8 a ton, which is expected to raise $500 million a year. But unlike CEJA’s smaller pollution tax, the carbon fee is more likely to close less profitable plants downstate than in environmental justice communities in the Chicago area, essentially making it a pay-to-pollute provision.
Read More