The time has come for Chicago to take another look at annexation. Consider this: According to the Illinois Municipal League, Illinois has 1,298 municipalities — more than any state, including California with 478 — and more than a shrinking state struggling with a fiscal crisis can afford to maintain. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the Chicago area lost 19,570 people in 2016, more than any metro in the nation. Building subdivisions halfway to the Mississippi River may have made sense when the population was expanding. But now that it's contracting, we should look at whether we need every little Bedford Park and Burnham — and whether excessive taxation and layers of government are hurting our ability to compete with the more efficiently run Sun Belt.