 The July report from Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes' office details
the state's fiscal woes: too many bills, too little cash and a new
state budget that ignores serious gaps in revenue.Hynes' report
says the "state's financial condition and cash-flow position
continued to deteriorate rapidly, as spending pressures were left
largely unabated and as the recession continued to impact state
revenues."
The report goes on to say that the backlog of unpaid bills has
almost doubled from last year at this time, ballooning to $4.7
billion from $2.7 billion. And the time it takes to pay those bills
has also grown to a record 153 days. In the summer of 2009 it took
the state 99 days to pay bills from vendors.
Both lawmakers and outside experts say the new report should be a
wake-up call, but they doubt it will be.
Ron Baiman with the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability said
he didn't think the state budget could get worse from last year.
"The politicians are hoping to get through the election without
doing anything ... But this strategy is without a doubt making
things much, much worse," he said.
Baiman said the numbers for the budget don't add up. He noted
that lawmakers factored in money that has not yet been made
available and did not take into account what could be $6 billion in
bills from last year that will have to be paid with this year's
money.
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, said it's clear that the
longer leaders wait to deal with the budget, the worse things will
get. But she believes the short-term solution is just a cash-flow
issue.
"How do we manage the lapse-period spending, the pension payment
and our current obligations? And we really don't know what will
happen with revenues," she said.
Baiman said lawmakers should know that without a tax increase,
the state is not going to have any new money. He thinks calling the
budget problem a cash-flow issue is ridiculous.
"It is absolutely a Ponzi scheme. We call a Ponzi scheme when you
have to borrow to pay off your past borrowing, and that's what the
state is doing. And it's destined to collapse unless more revenue is
raised," he said.
[to top of second column] |
Neither Nekritz or Baiman think that will happen any time soon.
Until then, Nekritz says Gov. Pat Quinn is going to have to manage
the budget.
"Trying to figure out how to spend our limited dollars will force
us to figure out what really are the priorities of state
government," she said.
Quinn said Wednesday that is what he intends to do.
"A budget is not something you do one day at a time. You have to
manage it over a period of a year. We'll get through," said Quinn.
Quinn's budget office issued a statement that shifts the blame
for many of the financial problems outlined in the comptroller's
report to lawmakers:
For the second year
in a row, the General Assembly refused to deal with the realities of
the state's economic crisis. Instead, legislators approved an
underfunded state budget, which passed the tough decisions along to
Governor Quinn. Governor Quinn is working with legislators to urge
them to take action to address the fiscal crisis by creating jobs,
reducing spending, using responsible borrowing strategies, and
increasing revenues for our state. This budget crisis was created
over several years of fiscal mismanagement and Governor Quinn is
committed to fixing it.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
 |
