Illinois has most government units, but consolidation brings challenges

(The Center Square) – A new report says Illinois is among the most fragmented states in the nation when it comes to local government, but consolidation is not always an effective cost-cutting option.

The Civic Federation report found that Illinois has 8,923 local government units, over 3,000 more any other state in the nation.

The report author, Civic Federation Senior Policy and Research Associate Lily Padula, said Illinois statute makes it easy to create governments but difficult to consolidate or remove them.

“Many of these governments were created decades ago to meet specific needs and instead of replacing them, we just added new layers,” Padula told The Center Square.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker recognized the issue when he spoke at the Illinois Local News Summit in Chicago.

“Let’s face it, with more local units of government...