OREGON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Ogle County Board unanimously passed a resolution opposing township consolidation in bills that the state is currently considering.

Senate Bill 2504, Senate Bill 2217 and House Bill 2515 were introduced by the 113th Illinois General Assembly in March 2025 asking for the consolidation of township government.

Townships in Illinois provide services including road and bridge maintenance, property assessment and general assistance. In Ogle County there are 927 miles of road and 199 bridges currently maintained by 24 townships. Board members said Tuesday that under the state's potential new bills, those services would be provided by the county after townships were eliminated.

"The Ogle County Board will only support any statewide effort of township consolidation if valid cost impact analysis is completed and proof that the level of services provided will remain," the resolution Tuesday said. "This would eliminate many community-based services that are important to the public."

In the state as a whole, 72,000 miles of road and approximately 12,000 bridges are maintained by townships. Township governments have the lowest debt and expense per capita in local government, and lowest numbers of taxpayers, the resolution said.

Board Member Lyle Hopkins (R-District 8, Polo) said Tuesday that he attended a local government consolidation seminar in Springfield on the matter and spoke out against consolidation.

"It's a proven fact that townships can operate more efficiently because of the amount of miles of road and staffing," Hopkins said. "If we consolidated everything into the county, I don't know how that would work. I feel we can do more the way it is now. This model has worked for 100-something years. In Pine Creek Township, I've been supervisor for 50 years and I don't think we've ever raised the tax levy."

Board Member Marcia Heuer (R-District 8, Oregon) attended the seminar as well and provided numbers to the board on what she believed the potential financial impact of township consolidation could be on the county if it were to take on those services.

"In my township, it costs about $29,000 for our road commissioner and we have a $170,000 truck ordered," Heuer said. "We have 24 townships in Ogle County. The average county maintenance employee makes $60,000 a year before benefits. For those people to take over the function of 24 townships, it would cost the county an additional $1.4 million. If the county had to buy 10 more trucks for this, that's $3.8 million. It's almost 2.5 times more expensive for a county to take over the functions of a township. That's what we're looking at."

Heuer asked the community and those involved with townships to reach out to their state legislators regarding the matter.

"Regardless of how much this impacts the counties, the state will be completely out of it," Heuer said. "We're going to get stuck with the bill."

Door to door

The board unanimously approved a door-to-door solicitation ordinance at the meeting. The new ordinance for residences in Ogle County reads that solicitors must register with the Ogle County Sheriff's Office before going door to door. There is no charge to the registrant. Soliciting can only be during the hours of 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Solicitors must abide by "no solicitors" or "no soliciting" signs. Any solicitor who has gained entry onto any residential property is required to immediately and peacefully depart from the premises when requested to do so by the owner or occupant.

Text system

The board unanimously approved a three-year contract with TextMyGov, a service community members can use by texting a number to receive information from various county departments.

TextMyGov was developed to open lines of communication with local government agencies and citizens. The system works 24 hours a day and connects with the county website and other communication methods.

Using the regular messaging app on any smartphone, the smart texting technology allows citizens to ask questions and get immediate responses, find links to information on the county website, address problems, report any issues and upload photos.

The annual cost for the service for the county will be $11,400.