Godfrey voters eliminate township

Godfrey voters decided Nov. 6 to dissolve the village’s duplicative township, a measure that officials had been weighing for nearly 20 years.

A township will no longer overlap with the village of Godfrey, after residents voted Nov. 6 to eliminate Godfrey Township.

The measure is expected to save taxpayers around $89,000 a year. Godfrey Township’s responsibilities of providing general aid conducting property assessments will be transferred to another government body. The village board will decide which government body absorbs those services in May 2019, according to Alton Daily News.

According to the Edwardsville Intelligencer, officials had begun considering the elimination of the township nearly two decades ago.

Townships typically have three responsibilities: maintaining roads, performing property assessments and providing aid to disadvantaged community members. When townships are coterminous – or perfectly overlapping – with a municipality, larger government bodies handle some of those duties. The village, for example, maintains Godfrey’s roads.

In August 2017, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Senate Bill 3, which allowed Illinois communities to hold referendums on whether to dissolve or consolidate townships. Godfrey and neighboring Alton took advantage of the law, introducing such measures on their Nov. 6 ballots.

While Godfrey voters eliminated their township, residents in the neighboring city of Alton voted against consolidating their township with the city.

Madison County residents voted to consolidate local government on two other ballot questions as well, merging the Madison County recorder of deeds with the county clerk’s office and dissolving the Collinsville Area Recreation District.