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| | A Brief History of the Illinois Municipal League
1870s through 1980s
For more than a century, the Illinois Municipal League and its predecessor organizations have sought to address the concerns of municipal governments and their citizens and taxpayers. As the Illinois Municipal League looks to meet the challenges of the future through its current rebranding and other efforts, it is useful to take a look backward and see how far we’ve come.
Pre-League Associations:
The first inklings of what was to become the Illinois Municipal League occurred in the late 19th Century. The industrial revolution and the expanding westward migration had fundamentally changed the tenor of life in Illinois. In 1878 and 1879, a group of mayors met in Joliet, to discuss the repercussions of industrialization and rapidly expanding population growth. A similar meeting occurred in Peoria, in 1898 and 1899.
In 1906, the Illinois Mayors’ Association was formed. The organization held its first meeting in Rock Island. The Association continued to meet annually. In 1908, the Association established a system of basing municipal debt limits on assessed valuation. That system is still used by non-home rule municipalities today.
The year 1914 was an important milestone. That year, at its annual conference in Urbana, the Illinois Mayors’ Association adopted a new constitution and changed its name to the Illinois Municipal League.
IML’s Early Years:
During its fledgling years, the Illinois Municipal League was staffed by Professors Farlie and Story out of offices at the University of Illinois.
The 1920s saw the expansion of the membership and influence of the IML in Illinois politics. In 1922, the first issue of the Illinois Municipal Review magazine was published. In 1923, due to a growing membership, inquiries, and activities, the IML moved from its offices provided by the University of Illinois to larger quarters in the Urbana Public Library. By 1933, however, the IML had, again, outgrown its office space, and the IML rented offices at 500 E. Capitol in Springfield.
Through the 1930s and early 1940s, the effects of the Great Depression presented extreme challenges for municipalities. With millions of workers out of a job, tax revenues were dramatically reduced, and the need for services was dramatically increased. This economic trauma persisted through the Word War II years as the war effort consumed available manpower and materials. These challenges sharpened the ability of both municipalities and the IML to respond to situations with flexibility and ingenuity.
From 1923 through 1943, A.D. McLarty served as IML’s Secretary and then as its Executive Director. This position was part-time and McLarty also worked for the Illinois Association of School Boards and the Illinois Association of Park Districts.
The Sargent Years (Part I):
In 1942, the IML moved into new quarters, by purchasing the “Broadwell Mansion” at 537 South Fourth Street in Springfield. This marked the first time that the IML owned its own space. With World War II beginning to wind down in 1943, the IML recognized the need for a more permanent director. In 1943, the IML hired A.L. “Lon” Sargent as its first full-time Executive Director. Lon Sargent would go on to leave an indelible mark on the IML and would elevate the status of the IML to new heights.
Lon Sargent’s efforts were to begin post-war planning. The Great Depression and World War II had placed municipalities in a tough position. For nearly two decades, municipalities had grown in population, but, because of the economic situation, were unable to expand their facilities and infrastructure to address that growing population. Lon Sargent addressed issues concerning financing public works, establishing revenue streams from user fees and license fees, and public housing.
One of the biggest challenges was that municipalities were starved for revenue. By the time he retired in 1968, Lon Sargent had worked with Governor William Stratton, Mayor Richard J. Daley, the Illinois General Assembly and municipal officials across the state to obtain the authority to impose a three quarters percent non-referendum sales tax as well as the authority to impose a non-referendum tax of up to five percent of gross receipts on businesses engaged in providing water, gas, electricity and telephone service.
In 1963, the IML began publishing the Weekly Legislative Report. The Report was designed to keep members abreast of the ever increasing amount of legislation and activity of the General Assembly in Springfield. Now titled the Legislative Bulletin, this newsletter is still published and distributed today.
1963 also saw yet another change of venue for the IML. The facilities at 537 South Fourth Street were deteriorating and were too small to meet the needs of the growing staff. The IML constructed a new office at 1220 South Seventh Street in Springfield.
Lon Sargent retired in 1968. During his tenure at the IML, municipalities enjoyed an increase in their influence and importance in Illinois government. Lon had helped successfully guide the IML and its members through some difficult and crucial times. It was crucial that his replacement be able to continue to build on those successes. Expectations were high when Steven Sargent, Lon’s son, took over as Executive Director.
The Sargent Years (Part II):
Before taking the helm as executive director in 1968, Steven “Steve” Sargent had worked for the IML in various capacities since 1953. As usual, lack of revenue and authority were the top priority of municipal officials’ lobbying efforts in the late 1960s. Probably the biggest event for municipalities during Steve Sargent’s time as Executive Director occurred when Illinois adopted a new constitution. With the strong support of the IML, a constitutional convention was called for by the voters in November of 1968. The IML launched a vigorous campaign to advocate its interests at the convention, and it campaigned for the adoption of the new constitution by the voters. The end result was the creation of home rule, which dramatically changed the way that many municipalities operated in Illinois.
At the same time that a new Constitution was being debated, Steve Sargent helped rebuild the coalition of the Governor, the Chicago Mayor, the General Assembly and municipal officials across the state that had been so successful in the mid 1950s to authorize an income tax in Illinois. The State of Illinois gained new revenue from the income tax and created a statutory portion of the income tax to be distributed to municipalities and counties through a newly established Local Government Distributive Fund.
As a further means of providing assistance to cities and villages, municipal officials worked through the IML to raise their sales tax authority from three quarters percent to one percent. The state allowed the local tax to increase by reducing the state sales tax from 4.25% to 4.0%.
Unfortunately, the 1970s and 1980s presented a set of challenges as well. The IML enjoyed less cooperation from the General Assembly than it had in prior years, and the IML’s legislative efforts shifted to a defensive posture. An increasing set of expensive social problems and demands combined with an increasing number of unfunded federal mandates often led the General Assembly to attempt to pass the financial burden down to local governments, either by imposing unfunded mandates on municipalities or diverting revenue streams away from municipalities.
The IML responded by achieving passage of the State Mandates Act in 1979, the purpose of which is to prevent the adoption of new unfunded mandates by the General Assembly and Governor. While there have been instances where costly mandates have been exempted from that Act, municipalities have enjoyed a degree of protection from Springfield passing the buck down to the municipal level.
In 1988, the IML again moved its offices. It purchased and renovated the building at 500 East Capitol Avenue that it had originally rented back in 1933.
The Post Sargent Years:
Three Executive Directors have guided the IML since 1989, Tom Fitzsimmons from 1990 to 1994, Ken Alderson from 1995 to 2007 and Larry Frang from 2007 to today.
For nearly fifty years Lon Sargent, then his son Steve, served as IML Executive Directors and the League succeeded in the purpose as written in the Illinois state statutes: “each municipality may provide for joining the municipality in membership in the Illinois Municipal League . . . member cities, villages and incorporated towns acting by, through and in the name of such instrumentality may provide and disseminate information and research services, and may do all other acts for the purpose of improving local government.”
During the last 19 years the League has achieved legislative success in receiving 50% of the Income Tax Surcharge and raising the portion of income tax distributed to municipalities from 8.33% to 10% of net revenue. An additional sales tax of up to 1% was authorized if a non-home rule municipality was able to pass a referendum. Over 80 non-home rule municipalities have successfully passed a referendum raising their sales tax above the regular one percent rate. The 5% maximum municipally collected telephone utility tax first authorized in 1957 was converted to a 6% maximum state collected municipal telecommunications tax, which provides a higher rate and is imposed on a much broader telecommunications base than just on telephone messages. The Motor Fuel Tax was raised and the same municipal share of the additional revenue was retained.
In 1990 the League initiated a major effort to insert language in the Illinois Constitution to limit unfunded mandates passed by the General Assembly or by administrative rule. While the constitutional amendment was ultimately unsuccessful, awareness of the number of unfunded mandates becoming law was heightened. As a part of that multi-year effort, in 1992, the General Assembly approved Senate Bill 1556. That legislation required that a statewide advisory question be placed on the ballot calling for an amendment to the Illinois Constitution limiting new State mandates. The citizens of Illinois overwhelmingly responded to the question. In every one of the 102 counties in Illinois, the question was answered "Yes". The statewide totals were: 3,001,471Yes and 722,016 No. That translated into 80.6% of Illinois voters casting a ballot in the 1992 general election wanting the General Assembly to work to prohibit new unfunded State mandates.
Since the major dollar loss imposed on municipalities by unfunded mandates was the rising cost of increases in public safety pension benefits, the League shifted to an exploration of ways to limit further increases in mandated pension costs. The League’s Public Safety Pension Reform proposal passed by the General Assembly and signed by then Governor Rod Blagojevich in 2008 is the first step in further efforts to control these costs.
Since 1990 the complexity of issues tackled by municipalities continues to grow and the IML has expanded staff to deal with that complexity. At present the League has 21 full time employees and will be hiring more over the coming years. Our goal is summed up in the state statute authorizing municipalities to join. We will provide and disseminate information and research services, and do all other acts for the purpose of improving local government. To that end we commit to work every day to perform those duties and to Educate, Advocate and Empower all Illinois municipalities.
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