Illinois recognizes four divisions of local government: county, municipal, township, and special districts. The basic function of these governmental units is to provide communities with public services. Counties and municipal governments (i.e., city, village, or incorporated towns) provide broad-ranging services, such as road maintenance and law enforcement, while townships generally provide limited local services, such as welfare assistance. Special districts provide specific services within defined geographic borders, such as fire protection, schools, and parks.

Each unit of government may levy a tax. According to Bean, there are over a dozen different taxing districts in Macon County, including the county, municipalities, townships, and special districts such as Richland Community College, county health, mental health, conservation, park districts, school districts, cooperative extension, mosquito abatement, sanitary districts, and special tax increment financing (TIF) districts.

Statutory limitations restrain most taxing bodies from raising levies beyond a fixed percentage without voter approval. However, Illinois grants home rule units the authority to raise taxes without going to referendum. Decatur is a home rule community, as are all Illinois municipalities with populations over 25,000. Municipalities may elect to opt out of (or adopt) home rule by referendum.

Home rule authority grants local governments the right to exercise any power not denied by state law. This right permits Decatur to pass city ordinances curtailing public nuisances, such as nude dancing or skateboarding, regulate entities such as cable TV or day care centers, and address environmental concerns, such as leaf burning. Home rule also allows Decatur to indulge in creative financing options to lure businesses to the city or to redistribute the municipal tax burden, such as collecting taxes on restaurant meals and hotel rooms instead of raising property tax rates.

Because of the extensive home rule powers vested in Decatur's legislative body, it is important for voters to carefully consider not only the candidates they select for office, but the structure under which these elected officials operate.

Forms of Illinois Municipal Government
Illinois municipalities may choose to adopt -- and modify -- any of the following four forms of local governance:

1. Aldermanic
2. Council-manager
3. Commission
4. Strong-mayor

Each form calls for a mayor, a legislative body, a city clerk and a city treasurer. Mayors and legislators are required to be elected by voters; city clerks or treasurers may be elected or appointed depending on the form of government and local modifications allowed under the Municipal Code.

The current ballot question presents voters with only two possible outcomes -- retention of the council-manager form or reversion to the commissioner form. However, since legal challenges are still pending regarding a strong mayor/aldermanic proposition, all methods of municipal government are evaluated below.

Aldermanic Form
The aldermanic, or "weak mayor-council" form of government is the most common structure for municipal governments in Illinois. Under this system, aldermen are elected to represent specific geographic subdivisions, or wards, within the city. The number of aldermen to be elected is based on the municipality's population. The mayor shares administrative and legislative powers with the aldermen. Aldermen generally serve four-year terms, although municipalities can alter the length of terms to two years.

Pros:

• Dividing the city into districts makes it easier and less expensive for candidates to get elected, since campaigns are restricted to smaller areas.
• Ward representation can facilitate election of a more diverse council.
• Representation is distributed equally throughout the municipality.
• Alderman may feel more accountable to their constituent/neighbors.
• Constituents may feel more comfortable approaching local alderman.

Cons:

• Increased number of elected officials results in higher public costs for salaries, benefits, training, and administrative expenses.
• Drawing the districts may polarize the community by attracting the attention of partisan politics and special interest groups.
• Ward representation can fracture the council's interests and cause territorial disputes, making it difficult to reach consensus on important issues.
• Elected officials may not have the skills or training required to professionally administer city services.
• Concentrating both administrative and legislative authority in the same body can lead to abuse of power.
• Finding interested and capable candidates in each district may present an issue. In the past 13 years, the largest slate fielded for a council election was 12 candidates (on the February 1995 primary ballot). In the last election cycle, there were not enough interested council candidates to even require a primary. Only six candidates ran citywide for three open council seats.

Council-Manager Form
Similar to the aldermanic form, the council-manager form calls for the election of a mayor and city council members, generally to four-year terms. Under this form, the council and mayor share legislative powers. The council selects a professional city manager to handle the municipality's day-to-day administrative duties. The manager functions as the CEO of a corporation, with the ability to make merit-based appointments of department directors and the authority to remove directors from office. The council functions as a corporate board of directors, and may hire or fire the city manager at will with a majority vote.

Municipalities can choose to elect council members at large (city-wide) or from within wards. They may even opt for hybrid representation, electing some members at large and some by wards. For cities without ward representation, the number of council members is prescribed by statute according to population (e.g., cities of at least 50,000 but less than 100,000 population must elect a mayor and six councilmen).

Decatur adopted the council-manager form of government in 1959. This form is favored by many larger Illinois cities, although smaller municipalities are increasingly turning to it. A referendum is required to formally adopt the city manager form of government; however, many municipalities informally practice the concept by hiring professional managers, called city administrators, to oversee municipal operations. These communities define the scope of the city administrator's duties by council ordinance.

Pros:

• Having a city manager relieves elected officials from administrative functions, allowing council members to focus their energies on legislative duties.
• Manager selections are based on professional training and expertise in administering city services.
• Separation of legislative, executive, and administrative duties provides a system of checks and balances.
• Council members may fire underperforming managers at will.
• Smaller councils cost taxpayers less and may be able to react to pressing issues quicker and with more efficiency.
• At large representatives are accountable to all city residents.

Cons:

• At large elections make it more difficult to get elected (this concern can be addressed by adopting ward representation or a combination of at large and ward representation).
• Fewer votes are needed to pass legislation, concentrating power into a smaller number of elected officials.

Commission Form
This form calls for the election of a mayor and four at-large commissioners to serve four-year terms. The Illinois municipal code vests all five of these elected officials with legislative, administrative, and executive authorities. After they are elected, the council must decide by majority vote which commissioner will head each of the following city departments: accounts and finances, public health and safety, streets and public improvements, and public property. These offices may be switched upon majority council vote. The mayor automatically becomes head of public affairs. By local referendum, voters can opt to elect commissioners to specific departments.

The council is statutorily authorized "to appoint, by a majority vote, the following officers: city clerk, corporation counsel, city attorney, assistant city attorney, city treasurer, library trustees, commissioner of streets and public improvements, superintendent of streets, superintendent of special assessments, superintendent of sewers, city engineer, and any additional officers that the council considers necessary or expedient."

As of 2003, less than 40 of Illinois' 1,200 municipalities with populations over 2,500 operated under the commission form of government. In the late 1980s, federal courts barred both Springfield and Danville from using the commission form of government because at large elections in these communities were deemed to have prevented the election of African-American commissioners.

Pros:

(Editor’s note: Extensive research on the Commission form of government repeatedly associated this method of municipal rule with words such as “obsolete,” “archaic,” and “anachronism.” At present, the only champion for the Commission form is ChangeDecatur’s support announced on January 10, 2008.)

Cons:

• Many political science scholars consider the commission form of government to be obsolete, replaced by the council-manager form of government.
• At large election of commissioners may hinder election of minorities.
• Lack of minority representation may invite lawsuits.
• Commissioners may be placed in administrative positions for which they are unqualified.
• Concentrating executive, administrative, and legislative authority in the same body can lead to abuse of power.
• Unrestricted appointment powers could lead to the awarding of appointments based on political or personal considerations, causing a lack of morale among city workers and leading to inefficient administration of city services.

Strong-Mayor Form
Under the strong-mayor form, voters elect the mayor, city clerk, city treasurer, and from eight to twenty alderman (depending on the size of the municipality) to four-year terms. The mayor generally serves the same administrative functions as the city manager, with the power to remove and appoint department heads and directors, commission members, and other non-civil service positions. The mayor may conduct his activities without council approval.

In cities with populations of 50,000 or more, a strong mayor is statutorily authorized to appoint one or more administrative assistants to help him run the city. By statute, an administrative assistant must have qualifications equivalent to those of a city manager, including professional training and experience in municipal government administration. The city council is authorized to specify the assistant's qualifications by ordinance, but the administrative assistant, and all other mayoral appointments, are accountable solely to the mayor.

In the strong mayor form of government, the mayor functions in a role similar to a state governor, proposing the budget, approving legislation, and making appointments. The council is equivalent to the state legislature, authorized to pass municipal laws and approve the mayor's budget. The mayor is not a member of the legislative council but retains veto authority over the council's actions. The council can override the mayor's veto with a two-thirds vote.

Pros:

• Separation of legislative and administrative/executive functions provides checks and balances.
• Dividing the city into districts makes it easier and less expensive for candidates to get elected, since campaigns are restricted to smaller areas.
• Ward representation can facilitate election of a more diverse council.
• Representation is distributed equally throughout the municipality.
• Alderman may feel more accountable to their constituent/neighbors and constituents may feel more comfortable approaching local alderman.
• Expense of city manager's salary would be eliminated.

Cons:

• Increased public expense:
  • Increased number of elected aldermen would result in higher costs for salaries, benefits, training, and administrative expenses.
  • Mayor's salary would increase significantly.
  • The appointment of qualified administrative assistant(s) would nullify any potential savings from eliminating the city manager's position and may increase costs if more than one assistant is hired.
• Drawing the districts may polarize the community by attracting the attention of partisan politics and special interest groups.
• Ward representation can fracture the council's interests and cause territorial disputes, making it difficult to reach consensus on important issues.
• Finding interested and capable aldermanic candidates in each district may present an issue. (See Aldermanic discussion above)
• Qualified mayoral candidates may not wish to quit their private sector jobs for the uncertainty of a full-time political career.
• It is likely that an elected mayor would lack municipal administrative experience, thus necessitating the need for qualified administrative assistance. Since the mayor's administrative assistant essentially functions as a city manager, this would reduce the manager's accountability from a seven-member council to a single mayor.