Townships will no longer be able to stockpile funds following the recent enactment of House Bill 1896, according to the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW).
According to the legislation, townships will be limited to holding onto two-and-a-half times the annual average expenditure of the previous three fiscal years. The limitation does not include the township's capital fund.
The House sponsors of the bill were Reps. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) and Carol Ammons (D-Champaign). The Senate sponsor was Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet).
Gov. Bruce Rauner
| Courtesy of Illinois.gov
"This Bill passed with unanimous YES votes in the Senate, and unanimous YES votes in the House with the exception of one voting ‘present,' the ECW posted on its Illinois Leaks website. "This bill was the result of our exposure of massive stockpiling of funds by the former Shelbyville Township board.”
The law went into effect on Sept. 8.
The measure follows Gov. Bruce Rauner's decision to sell $6 billion in bonds to help pay off Illinois’ staggering bill pileup.
“We’re choosing to exercise borrowing authority because it’s better to have Wall Street carry our debt than Main Street Illinois,” Rauner said in a statement.
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