First of all, wherever a municipality holds sway, it’s time to eliminate township government because it’s redundant. The second reason we can do without it is the statement made by Geneva Township Trustee Robert Kovacs who obviously doesn’t believe in leaving anything up to the voters.
C’mon! Anyone who reads this blog knows that townships like the Geneva version are where they bury the political patronage bodies because no one’s paying attention. And I’m sure you also already know that Township Supervisor Pat Jaeger has been running it as his own personal fiefdom for years.
But why spoil all the surprises! In my latest Geneva Patch column you will discover:
- Mr. Kovac’s fascinating pronouncements on bouncing a township candidate off the ballot
- How much a township clerk makes including his or her health insurance benefits
- That Geneva Township trustees, who generally don’t do much, make twice what Geneva aldermen make
- Just how many of your tax dollars go towards this kind of political patronage
Who can I count on to start the end of township government ball rolling? Until then, enjoy the column!
Yeah, Jeff, I’d much rather have my property tax assessment set by a politically appointed County Assessor-type crony (who only answers to the Chairman that appointed him or her), instead of by a locally elected Township Assessor (who is answerable to the voters). You know, like they do in Cook County. Oh wait, that’s right, the County Assessor in Cook County is an ELECTED position, and so is their Board of Appeals? Unlike every county in the rest of the state? So by eliminating townships, we’d get the worst of the Cook County tax assessment system without its only check and balance: accountability to the voters…
(And that said, we all know that the REAL problem here is Supervisor Pat Jaeger, Highway Commissioner Mark Wissing, Trustee Kovacs, and the rest of the Friends-of-Karen-Steve-McConnaughay insiders who run Geneva Township; what are they hiding so desperately that we get a rotten stunt like this, apparently to prevent a new set of eyes from looking at their checkbook..?)
Joe,
Ya gotta read the column! In that Patch piece I excepted the assessor for some of the very reasons you stated. But the truth is, we don’t need to have township government to have an independent assessor!
Jeff
Jeff: As long as the local Tax Assessor remains a totally independent ELECTED position (no appointed political cronies), I couldn’t care less. But this whole thing still seems to smell like a Geneva problem. Very disappointing that no one filed to run against Prince Jaeger and his FOK allies…