ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A northern Illinois city’s mayor says he will seek limits on city powers if voters approve a March referendum that would restore home rule authority.
Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara says home rule will give the city greater authority to solve its own problems and implement local regulations, taxes and fees. However, he said Wednesday he’ll ask City Council to approve “self-limiting” and accountability measures in response to worries such authority can be abused.
Those measures include allowing the recall of city officials, continued limits on debt and caps on raising property taxes.
The Rockford Register Star reports McNamara and leaders of a resident-run Rockford for Home Rule campaign argue home rule authority would “end our reliance on a dysfunctional state government.” Voters stripped Rockford of home rule authority in 1983.
