Reduction of Madison County Board won’t be on spring ballot, but could still happen
A proposed advisory referendum that would have asked Madison County voters if the county board should be smaller failed to advance during a special meeting of the board Tuesday night.
The resolution to add the referendum onto the April 6 ballot, which was proposed by County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler late last week, was discussed briefly then died shortly after when no members of the board motioned to discuss the resolution further.
The referendum would have asked voters “Shall the number of county board members be reduced from the current 29 members following the 2020 Decennial Census?”
County boards have an opportunity after each decennial U.S. Census to adjust their size based on new population data, according to state law. The board could still reduce its size, even without voter’s approval.
Board member Mick Madison of Bethalto had initially moved to table the resolution, noting he believed the board should create a “viable plan” for reducing the board instead of waiting for voters to decide.
“I think we all know that the voters will overwhelmingly say yes,” Madison said.
Prenzler, however, said the resolution could not be tabled since Tuesday was the last day a resolution could be added to the April 6 ballot.
Results of the 2020 Census are expected to be released “as close to April 1, 2021, as possible,” according to the Census Bureau’s website. That means the results of the census would likely be available to voters less than a week before they had to cast their ballots.
The Madison County Board has the maximum number of board members allowed by law who represent roughly 263,000 people.
There are 16 Republicans and 11 Democrats sitting on the county board, currently. Prenzler, a Republican, is set to appoint two board members to fill vacant seats on Wednseday.
Last week, Prenzler said having fewer board members would save taxpayers some money. Board members in Madison County are each paid $14,500, a figure that has been flat for nearly a decade, Prenzler noted.
See how much county employees made at https://www.bnd.com/publicpay
Madison County Democratic Party Chairman Randy Harris said the resolution is another move by Prenzler to reduce services. He said if the board were to shrink, county residents would have less representation.
“I find it very difficult to believe that this is being done in an attempt to make things better for taxpayers,” Harris said. “This is not for taxpayers. This is to strangle government services for the taxpayers.”