Kane County Reporter

State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) is pushing legislation that would require most local taxing bodies across the state to report at least once every 10 years ways where they can save taxpayer money by improving efficiency through consolidation.

House Bill 162 has the bipartisan support of Republicans and Democrats and the Illinois House Counties and Townships  Committee recently voted unanimously to approve the measure.

“Just like families do with their household budgets and job creators do with their business, our local taxing bodies should have to review their activities, processes and spending through broad buy-in and input. To seek to find ways to do more efficient work on behalf of the property taxpayer,” Keicher said in a post to his website. “This initiative would drastically improve public accountability on how local tax dollars are spent and make local units of government’s footprint right-sized and more efficient.”

Under the measure, each unit of local government (except schools, municipalities and counties) would be mandated to establish a committee to study local efficiencies and produce a report with recommendations regarding efficiencies, increased accountability and consolidation.

The bill now advances to the House Floor where it awaits potential amendments and final passage via a full vote by the House.