Madison County Board approves new map limiting the number of districts

The Madison County Board approved a new map downsizing the county from 29 to 26 districts at its regular meeting Wednesday night.

The map was filed by Madison County Relations Committee Chairman Chris Guy earlier this month. He called the plan “fair and reasonable.”

“We did what we said we would do,” said board Member Michael Madison of Bethalto. “We passed it tonight and everybody cooperated very well together. I was impressed with the way it went down.”

The map was approved 23 to 1, with board member Nick Petrillo of Granite City casting the lone no vote. He said he felt the map, which consolidates two county board seats in Granite City to one, didn’t serve his city’s residents.

“I’d prefer to have seen 27 rather than 26,” he said. “I think the numbers could have been spread out without any problem to each other and we could have handled it.”

Board members Michael “Doc” Holliday and Bill Stoutenborough of Alton, Mike Babcock of Bethalto and Jamie Goggin of Edwardsville were absent.

Madison County’s population declined 2.4% between 2010 and 2019 according to Census data. The entire state of Illinois saw a decline of 1.2%.

County boards have an opportunity to adjust their size based on new population data, according to state law. With 29 districts, the Madison County Board currently has the maximum number of board members allowed by law who represent roughly 263,000 people.

County board members are paid $14,500 a year by the county. Cutting three districts will save $43,500 in county salaries.

All board members’ terms expire next year. An entirely new board will be elected with the new map.

The Madison County Board faced some hurdles in the process of creating a new map. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed the release of the 2020 Census results. While some initial data was released in May, detailed results weren’t available until August. The legislature gave counties an extension so that decisions could be made with the more complete data.

Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler had presented a map to reduce the number of board members in May. The plan, which reduced the board from 29 to 25 members, was criticized by both Republican and Democrat members of the board.