Leader of Illinois Municipal League wants relief for small towns

Posted on February 13, 2024
Brad Cole, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League. (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The group which represents Illinois municipalities at the state Capitol is out with its legislative wish list for 2024, and some of the priorities are repeats.

The biggest example is the share of state income tax revenue which is returned to municipalities – the Local Government Distributive Fund, LGDF, which used to be ten percent.

“The state has had projected deficits and surpluses, and the LGDF has suffered either way,” said IML CEO Brad Cole. “We know there are resources that are available. We’ve seen millions of dollars in diversions. And we’ve been successful in incrementally getting LGDF up to the 6.47 percent where it is today, but it should be at ten percent.

“This is a priority. Budgets are about priorities. The difference is about $1 billion a year.”

Other priorities include making it easier to declare that an open meeting will be held virtually; and allowing legal notices to be posted online for free, as opposed to paying to have them printed in a newspaper.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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