With the resignations of the Supervisor, Clerk and office administrator in Richmond Township, people are wondering what’s going on.
Government consolidation crusader Bob Anderson of Wonder Lake now asks the $64 question:
Illinois’ over 1,400 townships are outdated 1800s local government of Nepotism, Fraud, Abuse and Tax Waste, supported by employees, family members, friends and the 11,500 membership of Springfield based Township Officials of Illinois.
An example of the tip of the township iceberg of Nepotism, Fraud and Abuse would be Richmond Township and the Richmond Township Cemetery District.
At a Special Meeting, on December 29, 2025, of the Board of Trustees the Board accepted the resignations of Supervisor Ron Kay, Clerk Tammy Kay and office administrator Dianna Benitz. (Ron and Tammy Kay are married).
Records from the Illinois State Comptroller’s Office for Richmond Township Cemetery District for the fiscal year 2025 list Tammy Kay as the Chief Executive Officer and Ron Kay as the Chief Financial Officer.
Records also show Richmond Township Cemetery District has one employee, total revenues of $62,925 with $36,314 in expenditures, 100% was spent on Social Services!
Is there something fishy going on here?
Of course!
If this is not fraud, it’s tax abuse!
Not a dime from a Township Cemetery District should be spent on Social Services.
The district also has an illegal fund balance.
Line items show an excess of receipts of $26,511 with a previous fund balance of $233,542; the current year fund balance is an astounding $260,053!
The Illinois Comptroller’s count of Illinois’ local government is 8,529, over one third are township related.
Illinois taxpayers are forced to fund
- 1,427 Township Governments,
- 1,391 Township Road Districts,
- 321 Township Multi-Township Assessment Districts and
- 23 Township Cemetery Districts,
a total of 3,162 opportunities of Nepotism, Fraud and Abuse.
Note: There are 46 states that have less than 2,500 units of local government.
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As a side note, I sponsored the Muti-Township Assessment District bill.
My premise, based on analysis of assessment uniformity and township population by Algonquin Township Assessor Forrest B. Hare, was that less populated townships did not have the resources to hire a full-time assessor.
Allowing intergovernmental cooperation seemed a way to improve the quality of property tax assessments.
