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 Nearly five months into a budget impasse pitting new Republican
Governor Bruce Rauner against long-serving Democratic House Speaker
Michael Madigan, Illinois is deep into uncharted territory.
Vendors are paid, or denied payment, at the behest of obscure laws
or on demand from state and federal courts, resulting in misshapen
priorities between the budgetary haves and have-not's.
A provision in state law, for example, allows grandstand acts to be
paid up-front, enabling Rauner’s administration to authorize more
than $2 million in expedited payments to 20 performers, state
records show.
But Sharon BuMann, the New York butter sculptor who for 14 years has
carved a cow from a large block of butter at the state's fair is
considered a vendor, and that status sent her invoice into an unpaid
pile that has reached $7 billion.
Despite the state's not having a spending plan, court orders and
other mandated spending have put Illinois on a trajectory to exceed
Rauner’s proposed $32 billion budget by $5 billion. And the state
comptroller, who must pay the bills, has warned that Illinois will
miss a $560 million pension payment next month if the stalemate
persists.
The state's decision not to pay BuMann's $2,500 bill even as it
dispensed tens of thousands of dollars to musical performers has
left her frustrated.
“It’s not fair. I do performance art, too,” BuMann said. “They don’t
spend their time in refrigeration for 30 or 40 hours at a time, all
week long. They just perform something they do all the time."
Medalists for prize-winning pigs, cows and quilts haven’t received
their prize money either, a spokeswoman for the state Department of
Agriculture said.
"The ridiculousness of Sammy Hagar and these guys getting paid first
is just a symptom of our dysfunction,” said state Representative
Jack Franks, a veteran Democrat from far northwest suburban Chicago.
The state's fiscal meltdown has drawn notice from Moody's Investor
Services and Fitch Ratings, which this week both downgraded
Illinois’ credit rating, citing the budget impasse, the growing
inventory of unpaid bills and the state's dismally funded pension
systems.
The range of unpaid vendors and service providers is as broad and
varied as Illinois itself.
A janitorial firm, owed about $114,000 for cleaning the atrium in
the state’s main Chicago office building, the James R. Thompson
Center, walked away from its contract in mid-October. And lottery
winners sued last month after the state-run lottery failed to make
timely payment on $288.4 million in winnings.
Rauner has taken cost-cutting steps. This summer, Rauner sold five
state planes, banking $2.5 million, and grounded aircraft that
ferried politicians on the 200-mile trip between Chicago and the
state capital in Springfield. And earlier this month, he proposed
selling the Thompson Center to save $12 million a year in operating
costs.
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Rauner has said he will not sign any budget until after the
legislature approves his "turnaround agenda" that seeks to weaken
public-employee unions and impose other business-friendly changes.
But Democrats who control the state legislature have balked at those
demands, leaving the state without a budget as pressure mounts on
vendors and social-service networks.
Numerous social service agencies that depend on state funding say
they are facing shutdowns if the budget impasse is not resolved. The
Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service, a rape counseling
agency in the campus town of Charleston, expects to close in three
weeks without a budget deal freeing up about $240,000 in expected
state funding, the agency told Reuters.
Erin Walters, the group’s executive director, wondered aloud about
priorities that determined musicians would be paid while her
organization is left to contemplate closing for the first time since
its 1977 founding.
“That is so disheartening on so many levels because we’re placing
such a high value on being entertained for a moment," Walters said.
"It seems selfish for that to be a priority when we have so many
other social services suffering right now."
But Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said performers netted the
fair a $38,000 profit. She blamed the overall budget meltdown on
“the Democratic supermajority that controls the legislature [that]
has repeatedly refused to consider any of the governor’s reforms.”
Madigan’s camp acknowledged paying musical acts up front is
important to recruit top-shelf entertainment but hit Rauner for the
mess. “Programs … where people have had to shut down or cut back all
[are] totally in his court,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
Those dealing with Illinois might learn from the cash-and-carry
approach recognized as standard practice in the music industry and
long accepted by earlier Illinois administrations to draw interest
in fairs that are favorite campaign venues for politicians.
Charlie Brusco, manager for the 1970s rock band Styx, said the group
collected its $75,000 payment before the bus carrying lead singers
James “JY” Young and Tommy Shaw and their band left the state
fairgrounds.
"We always leave the venue with our money," Brusco said.
(Reporting by Dave McKinney; Editing by David Greising and Sue
Horton)
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