(The Center Square) – The largest spending plan in Illinois state history is now law but critics say the election-year budget is gimmicky, driven by federal funds and a missed opportunity to right the state’s fiscal ship.
In signing the budget Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker reflected on previous years of fiscal mismanagement and said he’s turned things around to bring the “strongest fiscal position in generations.”
“Investments in stronger schools, modernized airports and newly paved highways, hundreds of thousands of well-paying infrastructure jobs, a better-funded pension system,” Pritzker said Tuesday at a signing ceremony in Chicago.
Republican gubernatorial candidates criticized the budget.
Auroral Mayor Richard Irvin said it is full of election year gimmicks and increases spending, giving way to future tax increases.
Jesse Sullivan said there are no reforms to spending, even after the state received billions of dollars in one-time funds from federal taxpayers.
“That is such a missed opportunity,” Sullivan told WMAY. “We could have actually done structural reform in the state of Illinois. Instead, we just kicked the can down the road.”
Pritzker said the spending plan sets aside a billion dollars for the state’s depleted rainy day fund and half a billion more toward pensions.
“The only members of the General Assembly who voted to kick the can down the road to stick you and your children with the bill were the Republicans who voted against it,” Pritzker said. “Who seemed to prefer spelunking for misery instead of offering real solutions.”
Republican state Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro said the state’s finances are being floated by one-time federal tax funds that aren’t expected in future years.
“The fact of the matter is this budget sets us up for a financial disaster down the road, and anyone claiming that it is fiscally responsible is being disingenuous to the people of Illinois,” Bryant said.
Politics aside, Adam Schuster with Illinois Policy Institute said the budget doesn’t do anything to bring structural reforms like changing the state’s pension system, something he says takes about a quarter of every tax dollar the state brings in. .
“He’s done nothing to actually reform the pension system,” Schuster said. “So throwing more money at a black hole of debt is not the way to solve Illinois’ pension crisis.”
The state’s unfunded pension debt is about $140 billion. It’s tens of billions more when considering the state’s responsibility to fully subsidize Tier I state retiree health benefits.
Schuster notes the billions of dollars Illinois received from federal taxpayers will dry up soon, and the state’s structural imbalances will resurface.
Pritzker’s office released a synopsis of some of the spending. That includes hundreds of millions in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for various sectors including:
$380 million in pandemic support healthcare provider payments including$150 million for affordable housing programs through the Illinois Housing Development Authority$75 million for a hotel jobs recovery program$50 million for restaurant employment and stabilization grant program$50 million for arts-related grants such as live venue operators, performing or presenting arts organizations, arts education organizations, and museums or cultural heritage$15 million for tourism attraction development grants
The budget year begins July 1.
