Righter Named to Streamlining Government Committee

State Senator Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) has been appointed to the Local Government and Unfunded Mandates Task Force chaired by Illinois Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti.

This task force will identify ways to help local governments consolidate and eliminate duplicate governmental bodies, school districts and taxing authorities. Streamlining these services will help prevent waste and use taxpayer dollars more efficiently. It will also find ways to reduce the number of unfunded mandates the state imposes on local communities.

“Illinois has an excessive number of local government units and the state severely limits local governments’ ability to control their own costs,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said. “Consolidating local government and reducing the burden of unfunded mandates imposed by the state will reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve delivery of services.”

“Streamlining local governments will help them better provide core services to the hard-working families in Illinois,” Lt. Gov. Sanguinetti said. “I am honored to work for the taxpayers by helping their local governments become more efficient so they can better serve the people they represent.”  

“In the past 20 years, governors and the majorities in the Illinois General Assembly have unfairly burdened local governments with mandates which are not funded by Springfield,” Righter said. “In an era where everyone is going to have fewer dollars to spend, it is imperative for us to relieve them of mandates for which Springfield is unwilling to pay.”

In February, Governor Bruce Rauner signed an executive order creating a task force, with the goal of reducing unfunded mandates on local communities and reducing the number of local governments in Illinois, which has grown to nearly 7,000.

“These are issues that have been discussed for years, but under former Governors Quinn and Blagojevich, we saw no action,” Righter said. “Illinois has more local governments than any other state in the country, which we know in many areas leads to duplicity and an unnecessarily high property tax burden for people.”

The task force will submit its findings to the Governor at the end of 2015.

“The choices we have to make will be in many instances politically unpopular,” Righter said. “But if we are true to our spoken words that we want Illinois to be a state with a balanced budget and thriving economy, these are things that must be done.”