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 Gov. Pat Quinn made
some alarming comments Wednesday in his state budget address
concerning income tax revenue shared by municipal, county and state
governments. The governor's budget proposal includes a $300 million
cut to moneys guaranteed to municipal governments under the Local
Government Distributive Fund. His proposal will cut the amount of
income tax that goes to local governments from 10 percent to 7
percent. This 30 percent slash in local tax revenue will increase
the burden that Lincoln is already feeling during this difficult
recession.
Last September at
the Illinois Municipal League's annual conference in Chicago, Quinn
guaranteed municipalities 10 percent of current income tax revenue
and 10 percent of any additional tax revenue created from his tax
increases. Wednesday he backtracked on his promise.
The $300 million
that would be cut from local governments will not do much to help
solve Illinois' nearly $13 billion deficit. To municipalities,
however, that $300 million cut translates into a loss of $23.10 per
local resident. For Lincoln, a $23.10 per capita cut means we will
have a $355,700 hole in our city budget if the governor's plan
becomes law.
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This cut comes at a time when we are trying to balance our budget
for the next fiscal year, which begins on May 1. The governor's
proposal is going to force us to re-evaluate an already dire budget
situation with limited time to fill the gaps it will create.
Fortunately, the
governor's budget proposal must be approved by both the House and
Senate in the Illinois General Assembly before becoming law. We will
be working with all our local legislators and others to keep this
cut from becoming a reality.
[Text from file received from
Lincoln Mayor Keith Snyder]
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