State bond funding for infrastructure projects in Illinois is running out after a $500 million issuance was pulled from the market earlier this week. The bond sale was cancelled due to concerns about higher than expected interest rates from bidders on the competitive issuance in the wake of the State’s bond rating downgrade on January 25, 2013. Although the State has issued more than $5.0 billion in capital purpose General Obligation bonds (GO bonds) since the Illinois Jobs Now! capital…
A national report on state budget issues released this week details the ongoing operating budget problems in Illinois and highlights the State’s dire need to invest in its neglected infrastructure. According to the State Budget Crisis Task Force report on Illinois, State and local governments could need to invest more than $300 billion over the next 30 years to maintain depleted roads, bridges, mass transit, water systems and other public infrastructure throughout the state. The task force…
Although discussion about the State of Illinois’ annual budget primarily focuses on the operating expenditures the State also appropriates significant funding each year for capital investments. The State approved a $22.7 billion capital budget for FY2013 that is not part of the $33.0 billion General Funds budget enacted for operations. Since FY2005, the State’s capital budget and operating budget have been recommended as separate documents by the Governor and considered in separate budget bills…
The Civic Federation supports Governor Pat Quinn’s $57.4 billion FY2013 recommended operating budget, because it acknowledges the depth of the State’s financial problems and would put Illinois finances on the road to recovery with major structural reforms to the State’s Medicaid program and pension systems. The Governor’s proposed FY2013 budget makes several important steps toward Illinois’ fiscal recovery. The proposal does not rely on borrowing, a departure from the State’s pattern of…
Three weeks after Governor Pat Quinn delivered his FY2013 budget address, details on the recommended FY2013 capital budget are still not widely available. In most years, the Governor is required under the State Budget Act to deliver the operating and capital budgets for the coming year no later than the third Wednesday in February. This year the deadline was extended to the fourth Wednesday through a resolution passed by the General Assembly during its FY2012 fall veto session. On the day of…
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2012 include public pension reform, requiring the State of Illinois to develop and implement a capital improvement plan, dissolving the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, requiring all counties to hold budget hearings and large counties to produce timely annual audits, enacting tax increment financing reporting reform, requiring school financial management…
The Civic Federation supports the proposed FY2012 Chicago Transit Authority budget of $1.2 billion because it will set the agency on a more sustainable path. The spending plan will also avoid fare hikes or service cuts if labor unions and arbitrators agree to work rule changes that would save $160 million annually. The full 41-page analysis is available at civicfed.org. The budget ends the CTA’s reliance on capital funds to prop up spending, an important development for the future fiscal…
The Civic Federation supports the FY2012 proposed Chicago Transit Authority budget of approximately $1.2 billion because it ends the past practice of using capital funds to close operating gaps and maintains current fare and service levels. This budget proposes to substantially curb expenditure growth by addressing expensive labor practices thereby setting a direction for structurally balanced budgets in the future. However, the FY2012 budget depends on the cooperation of labor unions and…
This editorial about the recent increase in the State of Illinois income tax discusses findings in IIFS’ analysis of the State’s FY2012 enacted budget, one of which included the discovery that debt and pension fund service for next year will total $5.8 billion.
Entering the third year of the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program, the State’s capital revenue sources are still well below the anticipated debt coverage needed to pay for the more than $16 billion in bond funded projects already approved. In July 2009, along with a massive package of capital appropriations, the State passed a package of revenue ehancements to support the spending then estimated to be worth between $943 million and $1.2 billion annually. However, at the end of FY2011 these…
