The State of Illinois is allowed to carry bills from one fiscal year through a specified period of time in the next fiscal year. This period of time—known as the lapse period—has been extended for FY2010 from two months to six months to give the State longer to deal with its mountain of unpaid bills. The State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105/25) allows state agencies to continue to use the previous…
Citing reliance on one-time revenue sources, such as borrowing, to try and close its FY2011 operating shortfall, Moody’s Investors Service announced last week that it was downgrading its outlook on the State of Illinois’ $25 billion of outstanding General Obligation Bonds (GO Bonds) from stable to negative. The negative outlook is a warning from the rating agency that if significant steps…
The State of Illinois will receive less federal Medicaid funding than it budgeted for in FY2011—but more than had been feared several months ago. After months of debate, Congress in August of 2010 passed and President Obama signed a bill extending enhanced Medicaid payments that were contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The enhanced payments, which began in…
Only two months into the new fiscal year, the State of Illinois has already begun pushing FY2011 operating costs into the next fiscal year. By borrowing cash on hand in the State’s special funds, rather than sweeping it, the State has passed on more than $70 million in current operating cost to FY2012. As previously discussed on this blog, the State plans to borrow nearly $1 billion from…
The State of Illinois lags behind other states in the use of community care for the developmentally disabled, but a new plan would bring Illinois in line with national standards by 2017. The strategic plan for FY2011 to FY2017, issued by the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) of the Illinois Department of Human Services, aims to provide care in community settings rather than large…
Earlier this week the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation released a comparative analysis of the cost of the $9.6 billion in bonds the State of Illinois issued over the past year. The report estimated that the State might pay as much as $551.3 million in additional interest costs for only one year’s worth of borrowing because of its ongoing fiscal crisis…
This issue brief provides a comparative analysis of the cost of the $9.6 billion in bonds the State of Illinois issued between September 2009 and July 2010. The report estimates that Illinois government may pay as much as $551.3 million extra for its borrowing as a consequence of its deteriorating bond rating. The report found that the extra borrowing cost will continue to stress future budgets…
A recent report shows that nearly all the bond subsidies promised under the Build America Bond (BAB) program are being paid by the federal government to issuers applying for the credit without significant administrative delay. The BAB subsidy, equal to 35% of the interest cost of qualified municipal bonds, was pledged as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The program was…
It’s no secret that the financially troubled State of Illinois owes billions of dollars in unpaid bills. What is not as widely known is that the State also owes $730 million in corporate income tax refunds, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. Unlike unpaid bills, unpaid tax refunds are not accounted for in the budget. The budget specifically shows unpaid bills as accounts payable at…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently announced his plans for $500 million in mass transit infrastructure improvements across the State. $442.7 million of that will go to the Regional Transit Authority for repairs to the Chicago Transit Authority’s rail infrastructure, the rehabilitation of Metra train stations, and new vehicles and a system-wide radio system for Pace. Click here for a list of all…
