CHICAGO – According to State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, as of 8:00 AM Wednesday, Illinois is over $8 billion behind in its bills. The exact number is $8,267,622,579.09, mounting from 102,680 unpaid vouchers.
But evidently, that's no big deal, because Mendoza was delighted that Illinois' new Governor J.B. Pritzker announced an additional obligation for Illinois taxpayers on his first day in office.
"Great news for state workers," she tweeted about their pay hikes that had been delayed for the past four years:
Wirepoints' Mark Glennon says that opening salvo from Governor Pritzker will cost Illinois taxpayers an additional $200,000,000 – an estimate, since the governor chose not to say what his gift to state workers that enthusiastically supported his campaign would cost. Not to mention, the current budget is already $1.2 billion out of balance.
Our sources close to the budget process say the cost will run about $200 million annually. That estimate is confirmed in a budget projection that showed it as a contingency, linked here, published earlier in connection with the current budget.
Conceivably, that annualized cost might run only until new labor contracts are negotiated and completed — if step increases are not included in new contracts. If so, and if the increases ran only through the end of this fiscal year on June 30, the cost would be limited to about $100 million.
But that’s unlikely…
And that points back to another graphic on Comptroller Mendoza's website showing Illinois' embarrassing credit rating – a rating that is causing Illinois taxpayers to spend billions on interest payments because their credit rating is so poor.
The comptroller introduces the following graphic with these words:
When debt is issued by the government, independent credit rating agencies attach a rating to the issue. The ratings attached to all bonds associated with the State of Illinois affect interest payments and the cost to Illinois taxpayers. Individual bond ratings will vary, but the general and special obligation bond ratings are directly related to financial condition of the state government.
All that "negative outlook" must mean nothing to Comptroller Mendoza – what's important is that state workers are in line to get their raises.
That means Illinois income taxpayers need to get ready for yet another painful tax hike.
