plicated governmental arrangements invite waste and duplication of effort; and the number of elections and elective officials impose a serious burden on the voters. Benefits of Unification. The money savings estimated as possible through the consolidation of local governments have been summarized as follows: 1. Overhead expense, by reducing the number of supervisory officials Reorganizing and consolidating the agencies for assessing 2. Reducing the number of elections. 3. and collecting taxes 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Consolidating and reorganizing the courts. Consolidating and reorganizing law departments. Consolidating and reorganizing accounting agencies. Consolidating and reorganizing purchasing departments. Park consolidation ($500,000 less amounts included in esti- Reducing expenses for rent, light and telephone service. Consolidating and reorganizing maintenance and repair forces Better control of finances and more cooperation and foresight Total estimated annual economies. $550,000 836,000 335,000 236,000 200,000 No estimate 500,000 326,000 150,000 No estimate No estimate $3,208,000 In addition to the estimates of direct money savings, equally if not more important results could be secured by greater efficiency, due to a better organization. A unified government could also foresce the future needs of the community and could formulate and execute plans to meet them much more efficiently and economically than is possible under existing conditions. For the local communities outside of the present limits of Chicago, a unified government should also make possible considerable money savings; and would clearly permit a simpler and more responsible system of government, and a reduction in the number of elections and still more in the number of elective officers. Proposed Plans and Problems. Several alternative plans have been suggested, from time to time, as a basis for the unification of local governments in Chicago. In the first place may be noted plans based on the present constitution, including the amendment adopted as section 34 of Article IV. The proposed charter of 1907 was based on this amendment, and consolidated practically all the agencies which could be included under its provisions. The consolidation act of 1915, which is still open to adoption, is less comprehensive and omits. the board of education and the public tuberculosis sanitarium from the consolidation. Both of these measures omit from the consolidation the county government, (including the courts) and the sanitary district; and under the present constitutional provisions these can not be included. These are serious limitations on the proposed consolidation. The county government and the several courts are among the most complex features of the present situation and any unification which does not deal with them will be far from complete. City-County of Chicago. Another plan, proposed as early as 1870 and at times since, is to create the existing city of Chicago as a separate county; and to consolidate the county, city and other local governments. The remainder of Cook County may then be organized as one or more counties, or may be attached to other counties, as may be preferred by the districts affected. This plan would make possible a practically complete consolidation of local governments within the present limits of the city of Chicago; and would leave the surrounding territory free to make other arrangements for county government. It gives rise, however, to some problems which need to be recognized and considered. Chicago does not include the whole of the Sanitary District; and if this is to be included in the consolidation, special arrangements will have to be made. It has been suggested that, as the construction works are now substantially completed, the city should take over the maintenance of existing works, and other functions of the district, and could also be required to furnish additional drainage facilities for territory outside of the city, under suitable financial arrangements, as the city now furnishes water to some territory outside of the city. A readjustment will also be necessary in respect to the forest preserve district. The forest preserves are mostly outside of the present limits of Chicago; but might be maintained by the city-county. Some adjustment will also be necessary in connection with the construction and maintenance of state highways in the part of Cook County not included in the consolidated city and county. To create a new county along the present irregular boundary of the city will cause some administrative difficulties. The present limits cut across township lines; and the transfer of land records for the territory outside of the city, and of court records affecting property outside of the city, will involve considerable work. Arrangements to meet this difficulty may be proposed. Provisions. should also be made for future annexations to the city and county of Chicago, with the consent of the districts to be annexed. Sanitary District Area. Some of these difficulties will be obviated or reduced if the Sanitary District be taken as the area for a combined city and county. This proposal would make possible the inclusion of the Sanitary District government in the consolidated system without difficulty; and it would reduce the administrative problems connected with changes in county boundaries. This territory would also include all of that likely to be annexed to Chicago for a considerable period; so that further changes in city and county boundaries would not be expected for some time. It may be further suggested that these factors would be even more true if an area were taken including all of the townships any part of which is now in the sanitary district, and also Bloom township, which is largely urban and suburban in character. Difficulties arising out of a rearrangement of county boundaries would be entirely eliminated, if the whole of Cook County were taken as the limits of the proposed city-county. But the half dozen townships in the northwest of Cook County and several townships in the southern part of the country are so largely agricultural and beyond the region of suburban villages, that it may not seem advisable to include them in what will be a distinctly urban community with a consolidated government. Problems. Any plan to include territory now outside of Chicago in the proposed city-county raises other problems which must also be recognized and considered. These cities and villages outside of Chicago have not as yet indicated any desire to be annexed to Chicago. It may be that they will be more favorably disposed to unite in forming a comprehensive city-county. But their attitude will be a factor to be kept in mind. It may be said that a large city should have some control over the planning and development of suburban areas which are likely to be annexed in the course of time. It is also urged that important public works and public utilities can be more satisfactorily managed for the whole metropolitan area than for the present separate municipal areas. This has been recognized by including most of these communities in the Sanitary District. In the same way a single water supply should give better and cheaper service than a number of separate plants. A well-organized school system should be more satisfactory than a series of local schools. Merger with Chicago would give the suburban districts access to better library facilities. Problems of transportation and lighting affect both the present city and suburbs; and existing conditions are not only unsatisfactory, but place the suburban residents at a disadvantage. both as to prices and service. A city-county including the suburban districts would be a more satisfactory unit for local regulation of such public utilities, or for municipal ownership and operation, than the present city of Chicago. It is also pointed out that tax rates are lower in Chicago than in neighboring suburbs. The tax rates in Chicago for the year 1918 were as follows: South Park District (towns of South Chicago, Hyde Park and Lake). $5.85 West Park District (West Chicago). 6.24 Lincoln Park District (towns of North Chicago and Lake 6.21 Town of Jefferson 5.42 to 5.99 The prevailing tax rates in some of the more important suburban cities and villages in 1918 were as follows: In explanation of these higher tax rates in suburban communities, it is sometimes claimed that assessed valuations in the suburbs are relatively lower than in Chicago, and that in proportion to true value the taxes are not so much higher as the comparative rates indicate. How far this may be the case it is difficult to determine. But if this is true, the effect is to relieve the suburban residents from part of their fair share of state, county and sanitary district taxes. On the other hand, it is urged that at least some of these suburban districts have distinct characteristics, which it is feared might be destroyed if absorbed in a single centralized urban government. Suburban residents have in many cases moved outside of the city, in order to enjoy the advantages of these communities, even at higher tax rates, and in order to have a more direct voice in local affairs. It is maintained that in some of these suburbs, the local schools are better than those in Chicago, and that local improvements are better looked after by local officials influenced by neighborhood public opinion. Census statistics on municipal finances indicate that in some suburban villages the local taxes and expenditures are lower per capita than in Chicago; in others, which are well-to-do residence districts, the total per capita expenses are higher than in Chicago, mainly on account of larger payments for schools and highways, while the cost of police and fire protection is less than in Chicago. An examination of the taxes levied in recent years shows that school taxes are much higher and form a much larger proportion of the total taxes in most of the suburban communities than in Chicago. In many of the suburbs the school taxes are about twice, and in some cases about three times, the city or village taxes; while in Chicago school taxes are less than the city taxes. In so far as this is due to the greater expense of better schools, the present arrangements permit such communities to pay higher taxes for this purpose, if they wish to do so. It has been suggested that some of these problems might be met by giving legal recognition to local districts in connection with local affairs such as street improvements, street cleaning, sprinkling, weed cutting and snow removal, and in connection with certain matters of local administration. A satisfactory plan of subordinate local districts in connection with the proposed unified government might lead the suburban communities to join voluntarily in a comprehensive plan. If any considerable area outside of the present limits of Chicago is included, another problem will be as to the taxation of farm lands. It may be urged that such lands should not be taxed for distinctively urban services and improvements, at least until they are brought within the area of suburban development. But this will require a departure from the rule of uniformity in taxation The present system operates to discourage annexation until the suburban area is actually built up. An adjustment of tax methods would encourage annexation before development, and bring this under the control of the municipal government. Variations in taxes for different local districts within the city may also be advisable if such local districts are to be allowed to establish different standards of service in some matters from those maintained for the city as a whole. Any change in county lines will also involve an adjustment of debts and other financial arrangements between the city-county and the remainder of Cook County. This will involve an analysis of the purposes for which debt has been incurred and the financial relations between the different parts of the present county. Debt incurred for public buildings and institutions taken over by the citycounty should be assumed by the city-county; and credits may be allowed to the detached portions for payments made in taxes for such buildings and institutions. Debts for highways and other undertakings partly in the detached portions and transferred with them may be apportioned on an equitable basis, perhaps that of assessed valuation. A detailed plan of financial readjustments can not be worked out in the state constitution; but authority should be given for dealing with this problem, subject to the consent of the communities concerned. It has been suggested that the towns now in Cook County outside of Chicago would lose some advantages by being placed in another county; since under present conditions they have the benefit of county institutions and public improvements which are supported mainly by taxes paid by Chicago. A thorough analysis of the relative benefits and expenses of the outside towns in connection with the Cook County institutions would be difficult to make. But an examination of the records of the inmates in the County Hospital and the County Institutions at Oak Forest for a single day indicates that the country towns receive less benefit from these institutions than their share of the county taxes, as shown in the table below: Inmates of Cook County Institutions. |