DeKalb Times

Dixon Mayor Liandro “Li” Arenallo feels people are reacting the only way they think they can by turning their backs on Illinois.

“I think it says people have had enough and we need property tax relief right away,” Arellano told the DeKalb Times. “People have known for a long time that they’re being taken advantage of and being forced to pay way too much to live here.”

All of it has come at a price, with the latest U.S. Census Bureau data showing over a decade-long period beginning in 2010 the state has lost nearly 170,000 residents. Over that same time, at least 93 of the state’s 102 counties have seen population decline, including 49,000 people in Cook County alone.

Overall, as many as 10 different counties have lost a minimum of 5,000 residents, with Arellano fretting the cost of all Springfield’s dysfunction and corruption is only making the situation more problematic.

“We need corruption relief in the midst of yet another scandal that the people are being forced to pay for,” he said, referring to the ongoing federal investigation involving House Speaker Mike Madigan. "As the combination of high taxes and rising corruption continues to happen more people are going to leave.”

As it is, downstate counties have been among the hardest hit regions, losing in the neighborhood of 144,000 residents since 2010 or 3.2% of its population from that time.

Arellano laments real change can only come if things start to turn around in Springfield.

“We need a stronger economy and need to be able to grow jobs like other states are doing because our budget is completely out of whack,” he said. “We need a serious reset at the state level. The (Gov. J.B. Pritzker's) latest budget is just more smoke and mirrors based on federal assistance that never came and a tax increase he planned on that never materialized. We can’t budget like that. It’s time for responsible government.”