Prior to the release of the Governor’s annual budget recommendation the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation releases an analysis of the State of Illinois’ fiscal condition. The FY2013 Roadmap includes a review of Governor Quinn’s three-year budget plan, a rough five-year budget projection for FY2013 to FY2017 and recommendations for the Governor and General Assembly to improve the state’s financial condition. The Civic Federation’s Illinois research institute…
On January 19, 2012, Governor Pat Quinn announced plans to close a State psychiatric hospital in Tinley Park and a State residential facility for the developmentally disabled in Jacksonville. The Tinley Park Mental Health Center is scheduled to cease operations in July 2012, while the Jacksonville Developmental Center is expected to close in October 2012. As discussed here and here, the two facilities were among seven previously set to close under a budget-driven plan announced by the Governor…
Six months after the end of the last fiscal year, the Illinois State Comptroller is reporting that $5.2 billion of FY2012 revenues were needed to pay off the State’s bills from FY2011. Paying off the previous year’s bills with current revenues is one of the ways the State deals with its accumulated deficits, which have reached historic highs over the last five budget years. At the end of each fiscal year, which for Illinois ends on June 30, the State typically has 60 days to pay off the last of…
On January 11, 2012, the State of Illinois sold $800 million of General Obligation bonds to support capital projects. The bond offering included $525 million of tax-exempt bonds, as well as $275 million of taxable bonds to reimburse other governments for previously completed projects. The sale attracted considerable attention because it came just days after a rating agency reduced the State’s credit rating to the lowest among U.S. states. Observers were interested in whether the negative…
Governor Pat Quinn released a three-year budget projection for the State of Illinois this week that shows only minor improvements in the State’s financial circumstances in the near term and declining prospects for Illinois’ future fiscal stability. The budget plan, required by law to be issued the first week of January, provides an update to the FY2012 State budget after changes made during the General Assembly’s veto session and gives revenue and spending projections for the next three fiscal…
In 2011 the IIFS blog provided weekly context, information and perspective on key fiscal issues in the State of Illinois. Posts in 2011 focused on analysis of FY2012 Illinois budget negotiations, analysis of the ongoing Illinois pension crisis and timely research on other fiscal issues impacting the State of Illinois. The following is a selection of the year’s posts. Analysis of FY2012 Illinois Budget Negotiations The IIFS blog opened the year by examining the implications of a…
On December 16, 2011, the Governor signed half of a tax incentive package that was sent to him earlier in the week by the legislature. The package of tax incentives had failed to advance earlier in the veto session. After splitting a bill that passed the Senate but failed in the House into two separate measures, the House approved both sets of incentives on December 12, 2011. The Senate followed suit the next day and the bills were sent to Governor Pat Quinn on Thursday, December 15, 2011…
One of the greatest challenges facing the State of Illinois as it struggles to balance its annual operating budget is the continued growth in pension-related costs. As previously discussed here, the State’s FY2013 pension contributions are now expected to be much higher than previously projected. An increase of $535 million to the statutorily required payment brings the total owed by the State to $5.8 billion in the next fiscal year. Approximately $5.3 billion of the total will be paid out of…
The State of Illinois’ statutorily required contributions to its five retirement systems will be $535.0 million higher than expected in FY2013, partly due to the impact of a pension reform law enacted in 2010. Required FY2013 state contributions to the five systems had been projected to total approximately $5.333 billion, based on actuarial valuation reports as of June 30, 2010. The retirement systems are the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), the…
The State of Illinois’ 44 regional school superintendents’ offices, which were slated for elimination in Governor Pat Quinn’s FY2012 budget recommendation, have been granted a reprieve—at least for one year. In presenting his proposed FY2012 budget to the General Assembly on February 16, 2011, the Governor stated that he was eliminating state funding for the offices in order to spend more in the classroom. The proposed cut involved approximately $13 million for the superintendents’ salaries and…
