Madison County Republican Party to Consider Reduction of the Size of the Madison County Board

EDWARDSVILLE - Precinct Committeemen of the Madison County Republican Party have submitted a resolution to support the reduction of the size of the Madison County Board at their next regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, March 22.

Elected Republican Precinct Committeemen Lee Wathan of Collinsville 29 believes that although this issue is going before a vote of Republicans, it is really an issue for all Madison County taxpayers.

“The Madison County board has twenty-nine paid county board members, which is the maximum allowed by Illinois Law,” Wathan said. “Every ten years the county board has to decide the size of the county board and most counties our size have around twenty board members. If we were to reduce the board by a third, we would save taxpayers around $1.5 million in board salaries, and still have enough members to represent our interests.”

Madison and St. Clair Counties are unique amongst the 102 Illinois counties in that they have twenty-nine board members. Almost all Illinois counties have far fewer members. Cook County has 18 board members.

Precinct Committeemen and former Madison County Administrator Doug Hulme says the county board was packed with twenty-nine board members due to perks like county subsidized health insurance and participation in the IMRF pension plan.

“I worked with the board to eliminate county board health insurance perks and supported the elimination of the county board IMRF pension,” Hulme said. “Now that those reforms have been made it is time to reduce the size of the board to a level that puts Madison County in line with other Illinois counties. I hope the current county board members have the wisdom to understand that a smaller board would not only cost less, but it would be able to conduct business more efficiently.”

The Madison County Republican Central Committee meeting is open to the public and will hold its next meeting at the Edwardsville Gun Club at 7pm on Monday, March 22.

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