by Alexander Hamilton

Created on: November 01, 2008

Reducing the size of the membership of the Sangamon County Board is an exercise in reducing the level of representation with no apparent benefit to the citizens of the County. Politics aside, it is obvious that representation will be reduced under the false idea that you are saving money or reducing the size of government. The net effect of redrawing the "new" districts will be to cut minority representation in half AND reduce representation of members in rural districts.

Further, rural districts resulting from a re-drawn map would sprawl across multiple communities. Where key rural issues such as land-use and zoning come up, it's the board member's input in how that community views that parcel of land that helps the other board members understand the community's concern. If the district balloons across multiple communities, some of that close knowledge is lost in the process.

At this point, any reduction will place too much power into the fewer hands: municipal members will have undue influence over rural concerns. As it sits now, the districts represent their neighborhoods and communities effectively. If the aim here is to lean toward metro government, that is a different question altogether.

There is a huge difference between efficient government and reducing your democratic representation. County government has been effective in reducing head-count, combining departments, staying within budget. This is efficient smaller government.

So, here are the reasons for why this is a bad idea.and it directly effects you and the whole county.

Adequate Representation: The current board is set up for maximum representation for the neighborhoods/communities served. The current districts are drawn close enough to represent citizens for effective listening and respondsponsiveness.
Reducing the county board will NOT save money. The purported savings assume that board members representing 13,000 citizens would be paid the same as county board members representing 6500 citizens. But in every comparable county with districts of 13,000 or more citizens the county board members are paid more than twice as much as Sangamon 's Board. Springfield's Aldermen represent roughly this many people and receive more than $12,000 annually.
Given the previous point, even if the members do not receive additional pay, it is likely that additional staff would be needed to facilitate the additional workload.

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