Dear Neighbor,
Illinois faces an enormous budget deficit. The economy coupled with years of financial gimmickry and irresponsibility have led us to an estimated $13 billion budget hole in the State’s General Revenue Fund (GRF) for fiscal year 2011 (7/10-6/11). Currently the State has over $5 billion in unpaid bills – we are not paying what we owe to school districts or human service agencies across Illinois.
The Governor’s proposed GRF budget for FY11 is $24.7 billion, a 6% decrease from FY10 and a 12.7% decrease from FY09. You can see the budget in detail at budget.illinois.gov. In summary, the proposed dollars are allocated as follows:
(If you cannot view these graphics, click here or click the link at the top of this e-mail to view this as a website).
The spending reductions in the Governor’s budget include:
- $1.13 billion cut to pre k-12 education;
- $103 million reduction to universities and community colleges;
- $276 million cut to human services programs;
- Decreasing the local government distributive share of income tax revenues from 10% to 7% for a savings of $300 million;
- Savings achieved by transferring some Medicaid recipients to a managed care program for a possible reduction of $325 million; and
- Reducing state employee travel and renegotiating all contracts valued over $1 million.
The Governor’s budget also includes an increase in borrowing and, while not in his proposed budget, the Governor suggests a 1% income tax surcharge to avoid the cuts to education.
Legislative leaders and the Governor will hammer out a budget most likely by the end of May; if a budget is not passed by the end of May, the number of votes required to approve a budget increases from a simple majority to a super majority (three-fifths). I believe we need a balanced budget now; we cannot wait until after the November elections to make tough decisions. Our financial situation is extremely dire and we cannot afford a delay. The legislature took a good first step last week by passing a pension reform bill, but we must also fund the pension systems, make judicious cuts to the budget that do not slash critical education and human services programs, and increase revenues in order to achieve a balanced budget.
As we get more information during the legislative session I will keep you posted. Please contact me at 773-769-1717 or via email at hsteans@senatedem.ilga.gov if you have any questions.
Best,
Heather A. Steans
State Senator
State Senator
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