29 Comments - vole - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:24 am: Where would Illinois be if not for some public servants like Dan Hynes who demonstrate that integrity is possible in Illinois politics? Really time for some straight talk from Blago on the deficit and the debt. But, I don’t expect it. - Shallow Pharnyx - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:27 am: Judy needs to jump on this from many angles- Blago’s claiming he has balanced the budget after being left with Ryan’s deficit; Blago’s reasoning for dipping into the pension funds; the yearly short-term borrowing to pay down payables; Blago’s new and/or expanded programs that increase the already ever growing deficit; etc. Judy, he is handing you all the ammunition you need. Run with it. - Silent Budgeteer - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:54 am: Becky Carroll must be talking about the budgets from early Blagojevich years. Check any Bureau of the Budget documents from the late Edgar years forward and you’ll see that short-term borrowing was paid off, which lowered the general funds balance. Apparently GOMB (not a worthy successor to BoB) can’t figure the numbers and is the one (with approval from higher up) that borrowed money to pump up the balance. - Budget Watcher - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 7:56 am: Dan Hynes is very likely a fine public servant, but the year-end report on the state’s finances is mandatory and the contents are prescribed by GAAP guidelines and independently audited and certified. Nevertheless, the year-end report is a snapshot of where the state is, and can give some historic context for where state finances are headed. Those interested in comparisons should look at the report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003 to see just how much “deficit solving” John Filan has done. Remember too, the next report will include the one-time $375 million in now-released funds/federal assistance, and it will be for a year in which $1.2 billion in pension obligations were deferred. There is clearly a structural funding and spending imbalance, and the defict will, without significant corrections to either spending or revenues, continue to grow, the Governor’s assertions notwithstanding. - OneMan - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:03 am: It Obviously Judy’s fault and some bad apples, it can’t be the governor’s fault. He is like perfect and stuff…. - Snidely Whiplash - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:19 am: This joker would borrown $100 Billion if he thought he needed it in order to “spread the cheer” to ensure his reelection (he’s already done billions worth of that with the tollway, which was supposed to be abolished in a few years, by the way … gotta keep those unions happy), then blame George Ryan, Judy Topinka, Abraham Lincoln and Cookie the Clown for it. BTW, how is it that Topinka is “responsible” because she “did nothing to stop” George Ryan’s corruption, yet she’s not to be credited with anything Blago has done (not that he deserves any, that’s for sure). The U.S. Attorney needs to bring that indictment BEFORE the election, so as not to stick us (as they did before) with another 4 years of corruption. Otherwise, the oblivious “electorate” will reelect this character, then gripe after he finally does get indicted. - Cassandra - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:32 am: So, shouldn’t we call this a 6 billion dollar deficit. Why wouldn’t the 3 billion in medical expenses be attributed to the year in which they were incurred, instead of, at least for purposes of determining the debt, counting them as expenses for the next (that is, the new, current) fiscal year. Blago and Filan seem to believe that the public has given them free reign to make up numbers and call the budget balanced. And we’re letting ‘em do it. An opportunity for JBT to educate the public, but can she take advantage of it. - Bubo - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:48 am: Yes, release it late on a Friday leading into a 4 day (for many people) holiday. - So-Called "Austin Mayor" - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:54 am: Do not panic! The deficit will soon be well in hand — the gov is ordering state offices to raise their thermostats to 78 degrees. http://tinyurl.com/s2fuu So Illinois will be back in the black in no time. - statehouse shark - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:19 am: Dan Hynes’ numbers are solid. Good job, Mr. Comptroller. - zatoichi - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:37 am: Three things: 1. If I have a “general deficit of $3.06 billion” and I also have “rolled a whopping $3 billion in bills from the last budget into the current one” how does that add to anything but a $6.06 billion shortage of money? The bills and the debt (even if they are 5 years old) still have to be paid somehow. I do not see Visa giving me a break because a new fiscal year started. 2. I thought Federal reimbursement was 50%. How does $200 million become $400 million? 3. Are the special funds that JBT is “sitting on” even allowable to be used for health care or anything else except their original budgeted purpose? It would seem if you use the special funds for something else, you still need $200 million to cover the expense of the original purpose of those special funds. - Ben - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:54 am: I say last week that 40 states have a budget surplus and most that do not were gulf coast states hit by Katrina. Was Illinois also hit by Katrina or what is Illinois excuse? - vole - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:02 am: Ben, I’d say that Illinois’ excuse is that so many interests have their hand in the cookie jar that just about all of us some some responsibility. But, I would add that not tapping some kind of new revenue source is just plainly irresponsible. Like, when are we going to start taxing all internet purchases originating from inside Illinois. Why are not Illinois’ retailers screaming for this? Seems like this puts them at a big competitive disadvantage. - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:23 am: I remember when the Gov gave the MC people a raise (4%) because the budget problem was solved. I guess they may have to give that 4% back. - Denby - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:25 am: It must be nice to be the governor of Illinois. Nothing is your fault. I don’t know a *single* job — other than the governor of Illinois — where you are able to consistently, year after year, blame your predecessor. But I started think about this — about the fact that the Governor of Illinois cannot be blamed for anything bad — and I wondered: if that’s the case, if you’re never at fault, why on earth would you want the job in the first place? If there’s no danger of making a mistake, then what’s the point? It’s a walk in the park. The Governor of Illinois must wake up every day and think, “I am one lucky son of a gun. Not only *can* I do no wrong, I *do* no wrong. In fact, I welcome corruption in my organization. If we can identify corruption, then we must be doing good.” The part about the corruption confuses me, though. Yes, okay, you do no wrong. I understand that. You are, after all, the Governor of Illinois. But if you welcome corruption and see it as a good thing because it becomes “corruption” once it’s identified, then what happens when no one finds any corruption? Does that mean that you are doing a bad job? I’m confused. You do no wrong, corruption is a good thing, and my corruption is different than my predecessor’s corruption. You are one lucky son of a gun. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 10:52 am: There is a reason Illinois is failing while other states thrive. Our state got fat and happy without lifting a finger for over 100 years. We still have state leaders who think they can somehow recreate the 20th Century. Blagojevich says that he looks to FDR, a guy that has been dead since 1945. Durbin proudly claims that he is a “new deal democrat”, although he wasn’t even born then. Obama is younger, so he cites LBJ’s War on Poverty as a remedy. Has anyone been awake over the past 25 years? With leadership like this, it is no wonder Illinois struggles. There was a time when state leadership knew it had to create a reason to move here. They chose location. Illinois became the center of the US railroad empire, the airline industry, and with it, every distribution network for every business moved here. Why would anyone move to a featureless prairie if they didn’t have to? Our past is full of state leadership that created reasons. We forgot how to hustle. We got a bunch of elected officials who believe if they shovel enough of your money around, some kind of magic would occur. We got officials who believe the only way to stay in office is to promise something for everyone, and make outlandish claims. Our current governor would seem more at home at Enron than Illinois, promising a bright future while the books show crisis. He sets the tone and that tone is dishonesty with a smile. We will never repeat the boom years of the industrial age, but we have no future if we keep focusing on the past. FDR is dead, Mr. Blagojevich and Mr. Durbin. LBJ is dead, Mr. Obama. The year is 2006, not 1936. - 'The Gay Governor' - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 11:11 am: Before you heap too much praise on Hynes for being a great public servant, consider this: - He must produce this report under the law. He has no choice. For that matter, accounting regulations petaining to the CAFR are strict. There is little room to manipulate the numbers in the governor’s favor. - The report in previous years was published in January. Last year, it didn’t come out until March. This year, not until June. Did Hynes/Blago think they could hold it until after the election? They managed to hold it until after session, and well after Blago claimed he erased the deficit. - Hynes waited until late on a Friday before a 4-day weekend to quietly release this report. Was that just coincidence? A function of printing? Or was Hynes doing his part to bury the story. Look around … nobody else has written about this. As to Medicaid reimbursement, yes it’s true that the feds reimburse Illinois at a rate of 50 percent. However, when the state spends that new money from the feds on health care, it gets reimbursed for 50 percent of that, too. This cycle goes on into perpetuity, so you’ll often hear state accountants talk about how they end up getting back close to 100 percent. - vole - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 11:52 am: uh, Gay Gov, you might want to consider when the fiscal year starts. Now July 1. The release of Hyne’s report would occur at the end of the fiscal year, no? - Ashur Odishoo - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 1:14 pm: Blago will re-invent himself as a true reformer, now that he has seen the light. “I have made mistakes. I am now more mature. I have seen the light. Vote for me and I promise that I will clean up government once and for all. Let my experience in this matter work for you.” Blago is as shameless a politician as we have seen in many years. He is setting a new all-time for corruption, waste, and fraud. He should step down and let Pat Quinn run the show. Ashur Odishoo Candidate State Representative 11th District - 'The Gay Governor' - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 1:26 pm: vole, The Hynes report, commonly known as the CAFR, comes out after the close of the fiscal year. In years past, it was published in January, or about six months after the fiscal year ended. This year, it appeared nearly a year after the fiscal year ended, or five months later than usual. - Silent Budgeteer - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 1:28 pm: I think the only one who seems to have noticed this tidbit is Gay Gov: the report that was released (about 6 months later than normal) was for the year ending June 30, 2005. We’re going to wait at least six months before we see or hear anything about how much deeper the hole is as of June 30, 2006. - Buck Flagojevich - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 5:13 pm: Ben! You are on to something. Rod can blame all of his ills on Katrina. Maybe we should start to refer to him as Gov. Katrinavich. - Truthful James - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 5:25 pm: Somewhere along the line the politicians got the idea that the purpose of the budget, the purposes of the incoming revenue was to keep them in office, not to fill the needs of the state and its citizens. Every man, woman and child is being shortgchanged and given future burdens without a thought as to how they might be alleviated. Keep this thought in mind. The money to pay every tax, every fee that the Mayor and the Governor can impose is passed through one way or another to the family and the individual to pay. - Budget Watcher - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 5:41 pm: Silent Budgeteer and The GG, I too noticed the Comptroller’s report was abnormally late this year. You’ll have to ask the Comptroller’s Office why it was late and why they timed the release during a slow news cycle. Seems more than a little unusual. The Medicaid math is pretty easy - $200 million state or 50% of $400 mil, and $200 mil federal or 50% of $400 mil. The GG was right on the mechanics of the federal aid cycle. To Cassandra, The $3.06 billion Medicaid “deficit” is a cumulative figure that grew by a fraction of this amount in the last fiscal year (FY2005 for report purposes). You can’t double it and say all of the deficit accrued in one budget year. By the same token, the inherited deficit was never $5 billion, but somehow the Governor has convinced everyone that it was. It’s actually pretty easy to compare this report to the report following the last George Ryan budget. It would certainly give a better prespective on any fiscal improvement or lack of improvement over the first two years of the Governor’s term. - state worker #1 - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 5:45 pm: Blagojevich “isn’t even in the same area code as the truth.” – I like that!!!!! Does Becky Carroll go to sleep at night muttering “Find a way to blame someone else”, “Find a way to blame someone else”, “Find a way to blame someone else”, “Find a way to blame…zzzzzzzzzzzzz - Lovie's Leather - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 8:59 pm: See, what needs to happen is this… the state should be forced to borrow money from loan sharks. Then, the budget will be balanced. Because if it wasn’t, the mob would come to your house and break your arm. And it would be tough for the gov to shake hands during a parade with his arm in a sling… followed by a press release, “What I don’t understand is this, the loan sharks break your arm, yet somehow you still owe them the money.” - Disgusted - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:35 pm: I think that the Feds will be seriously looking at the federal reimbursements when they get a load of the crap going on with AllKids. They are supposed to have some say in whether this will fly or not and apparently, the Gov and his crew haven’t even talked to them yet. The state’s leading physicians association is not at all pleased with it and who knows if any of them will participate. Who’s going to pay the first bills from providers once the supposed 43,000 participants start sending in their bills. This whole plan is held together by spit and chewing gum. Surprise, surprise. - Emily Booth - Wednesday, Jul 5, 06 @ 9:38 pm: That was a great line by Brian McFadden! Great comeback and catchy, too. I seem to remember some KidCare (now called AllKids) programs getting reimbursed at 65%. But, my notes are at work… Blagoyevich is getting indicted; it’s just a question of when. The financial status of our state is very scary. - annon. in the styks - Thursday, Jul 6, 06 @ 6:12 am: Idiot comes to mind !!!! He lies, cheats & steals from the taxpaper & pensioners of this state !!! The credibility of Illinois ranks somewhere in negative numbers. No business will locate here of any size because of its hostile business environment & with the “state” that our state is in..no guarantees that the gov’t or its intiatives will be intact for any lenghth of time. How many more bites of the apple do people & others need to take to realize the guy has got to go in November, several in fact including many Dem legislators who walk lock step with this guy to make it happen. You also can’t keep coming up with new & expense programs barely vetted thru channels & do it in a multi-billion dollar defecit!! Fix what’s wrong 1st , pay some bills, stenghthen the gov’t …that would occupy any governors time for years & certainly will after this clod is gone. And AFSCME …that another story all together !! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.