Report gives Illinois a poor grade for government funding transparency
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[November 19, 2021]
By Kevin Bessler
(The Center Square) – A new report found
Illinois is one of the least transparent states in the country for
reporting government financial information.
The nonprofit organization Truth in Accounting released its Financial
Transparency Score report for financial reporting by the states and gave
Illinois a score of 56 out of a possible 100. Only four states scored
lower.
The report focuses on annual financial reports on file in statehouses
across the country and measures their contents against best practices
from the private sector. The report is based on fiscal year 2020, which
includes the beginning of the pandemic and the most recent reports
available for all 50 states.
Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Openthebooks.com, said state governments have
to show us the money trail.
“If they tax you, they have to prove they are spending our money
honesty, efficiently, and in ways that help people who have real needs,”
Andrzejewski said.
Some of the criteria to gain points include receiving a clean opinion
from an independent auditor, the reporting of all retirement liabilities
on its balance sheet, and being easily accessible online.
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Truth in Accounting CEO Sheila Weinberg said some
governments like Illinois are promising future pensions without a
funding mechanism or transparency.
“We believe in what we call fact-based accounting,”
Weinberg said. “You shouldn’t be able to promise something and get
votes for without having to include it in your budget.”
Andrzejewski said most states don’t report pension liabilities, and
Illinois’ situation is a mess.
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“For a family of four, your share of the Illinois unfunded pension
liability exceeds the median income in the state,” said
Andrzejewski. “You will owe more to pensions for public employee
promises that were promised but never funded than you make in a
year.”
The scores are worse than previous years, which the report authors
say could be due to the COVID-19 pandemic and federal relief funds
which presented challenges with audits.
While no state earned a perfect score in this year’s analysis, TIA
regards a score of 80 or above as noteworthy. Utah received the top
score of 88, while Colorado was the least transparent state with a
score of 46. |