65 Comments - Collar Observer - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:28 am: going to revise the question of the day Rich? - Commonsense in Illinois - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:28 am: Will the last person leaving Illinois please turn out the lights? - Anon - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:31 am: It must be all that overtime for the Governor’s security detail on his trip to NY. (Hey, if you can’t kick him when he’s down and blame everything up to and including the weather on him, what’s the point of impeaching him?) - hmmm - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:31 am: I think hynes has it a little high. Latest reports I heard from people who know had it at 7.5 billion. That’s still holy moly. - Anonymous45 - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:34 am: I hope Cassandra doesn’t blame this on Governor Quinn taking too long to get to the bottom of IL’s budget boondoggle… - carbon deforestation - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:35 am: The Federal Reserve is going to write of much of the bad banking debt or move it into a “bad debt bank.” Can we move a portion of our deficit attributed directly to our former Governor onto some off-book ledger called the “bad governor debt,” sheet? No, okay well it was worth a try. Our state needs a fiscal reset button. Somebody call Staples . . . - SLICK NICK - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:35 am: Hey Look, a Kitty! I guess that does not work anymore. - BIG R.PH. - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:37 am: Maybe Blago is right…a TAX increase is coming!! - bourbonrich - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:39 am: What does this mean for FY 10? Huge problems for every agency that depends on state funding and this is before somebody figures out how to help the pension funds that lost 25% last year. - Bill - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:39 am: ==Maybe Blago is right== Told ya, drugstore man. Get ready to pony up. - Greg - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:42 am: Carbon Deforestation has a good point. But I’d expand on the idea: set up a small “Bad state” within Illinois to shoulder it. - been there - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:42 am: that comes out to $1 billion for each year that milrod was governor. the next talk show host should ask him how to fix that, without hurting the hard-working men and women of illinois. - Ken in Aurora - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:42 am: Simple. Assess a $500 per resident one time head tax. (Ducks.) - Collar Observer - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:43 am: The General Assembly should have had the political guts to pass the income tax increase last year - with a veto proof majority right before they impeached Blago. This is so much more than holy moly - - hmmm - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:43 am: Rich, can you post the report? - Amy - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:44 am: Cook County is contemplating furlough days, many days, and staff cuts. State has to take that and an ax to the budget before tax increases. at least we can hope…. - Keep Smiling - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:47 am: Looks like we may need to commit to a multi-year program for reducing our deficit, with specific % cost reduction goals for each agency in terms of services/programs, administration and operating costs. I’ll bet the auditor general has some ideas we can chew on; an awful lot of programs/agencies have been carefully reviewed during the past few years. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:49 am: ===multi-year program for reducing our deficit=== That would be nice if we could print money and decided to borrow longterm for operations. The first is impossible and the second is improbable, but maybe they will do something like that. - tanstaafl - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:54 am: Commonsense - Thelast person out won’t need to shut the light off, the power company will disconnect us before then - LOL. - From the Sidelines - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:54 am: Rich, So is the $9 billion for this fiscal year and the $6 billion for FY10? - The Doc - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:55 am: Maybe this tidal wave of bad news has brought us to the political tipping point. Some cuts will be needed, of course, and the GA should be working overtime right now to find the areas where that can occur. Realistically, it’s time to strongly consider a progressive income tax structure and extending the sales tax to services. It’s unpleasant to say the least, but we’re out of time and options. Nickel and dime fee increases and the like won’t make enough of a meaningful impact, and are much less transparent. A slew of more stringent ethics and campaign finance laws might make such tax reforms more easily digestible. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 11:58 am: Rich, Here is what could be accomplished in this GA and with this new Administration; Guessing that Hynes is correct, and further that the federal bailout will reduce the deficit can list at $6 billion, a 2 year plan of cuts is the only way that this deficit can be reduced. Illinois has a long and annoying habit of earmarking funds to pay for something, then reducing that payment to pay for something else ala Peter to pay Paul budgeting. Now, if you are going to go after $3 billion at the same time you are going to go for a construction bill, that becomes almost $6 billion for this budgetary year again. The IL bond rating has gone down, refenues in the casinos are down, jobless rates are at highs not seen in decades, driving habits are at decades low … So, can’t bond, can’t get a new casino, can’t increse income tax, and a gas tax increase seems a bit loose with fewer trips in the car. $6 billion in cuts this year, to pay for deficit and construction bill, another $4 billion next year in cuts MAY be the only way to get out of this fiscal mess. Regressive taxes, be they gaming, cigarettes, gas, alcohol will not cover $10 billion. Having the taxpayers bear the burden solely will not get people back to work or buy/spend. Fiscal responsibility begins in knowing what you have, and what you have not. I believe Governor Quinn wants to do right by the citizens of IL, as I believe anyone elected has that thought somewhere in their system. As a former treasurer, Gov. Quinn should remember how fiscal restraint, no matter the pain, is the most effective for the state of Illinois, if not for the mechanism by which IL’s citizens rely. It will hurt. Payrolls are going to have to be severely trim. Be heroes, Go. Quinn, Speaker Madigan, President Cullerton. Stop the spending, regroup on the revenues you actually KNOW will be there and begin again. - bankman - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:04 pm: I can’t get over the principle that government (all levels) should always get more when the rest of us have and are now getting by with less. Before we punch the tax increase, I say lets start cutting like businesses have been cutting for a number of years. - hmm - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:14 pm: It also is important to note, they general assembly passed the last 2 budgets WITHOUT the governor. So they can blame him, but only to a point. They have to look long and hard at themselves. They have to be held accountable, too. - GA Watcher - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:15 pm: Bankman: Your industry has done such a stellar job cutting, hasn’t it?!?! Gotten any taxpayer- funded bonuses or been on any taxpayer-funded boondoggles lately? - James the Intolerant - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:19 pm: For Blago to blindly not increase taxes and act like this made him a great governor is nonsense. Raiding pension funds and borrowing money only delays the inevitable and brings us to this. Will Quinn raise taxes? Probably. Was Blago a contributor to having to raise taxes? Most definitely. Cut spending, layoffs, and raising taxes will all be necessary to deal with this mess. Ask California how Proposition 13 worked out for them. - The 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:22 pm: Quinn needs to start selling stuff? How much do you think Rockford is worth? - Ghost - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:25 pm: We rely too much on sin tax to fund the State (revenue from gambling, alcohol and tobacco sales). It appears tax increases are inevtiable; perhaps its time to revists a watered down GRT in the mix. - A Citizen - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:32 pm: Kjellander’s Bear Stearns $10 Billion bond sale yielded that amount of which I think $3 billion went to pensions and $7 Billion was “invested” with the interest earned to go against the bond payments. Seems to me that tapping the $7 Billion invested would be a logical move and then raise the debt service money through taxes, fees, etc. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:33 pm: That money is reserved for paying off the debt. You can’t tap it. - A Citizen - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:34 pm: Nuts ! - Phineas J. Whoopee - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:35 pm: It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to bankrupt the state and then spout off that the state will have to raise taxes. Blago should be blamed for any tax increase-not quoted. Another person that should be-but I predict will skate on this issue is the Speaker. 2 years into Blago’s 1st term they did some funky pension deal that put off paying the piper and they have been faking it ever since. Not only did that put off any tax increases but it re-elected Blago. Now that everything is coming home to roost it all falls into Quinn’s lap to fix? He is responsible enough to do it, however, it is unfair that he will blamed for it. - bluedog demo - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:36 pm: Increase revenue ( income tax, sales and fees )and cut expenses. That will balance the budget. Now to decide which items to cut. Non-essential state employees taking a reduction in days worked have to be part of any equation ! - tanstaafl - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:38 pm: So tell me, bluedog, how many days a week / month will you give up working? - Anon - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:41 pm: **==Maybe Blago is right== Told ya, drugstore man. Get ready to pony up. ** When the Governor started that “plot to raise your taxes” s—, my first reaction was, “He’s admitting he’s lost, because he knows either a tax hike is coming or there will be unacceptable budget cuts. All he’s doing now is setting himself up to say, ‘I told you so’ when it happens.” A spiteful, mean-spirited, self-centered child to the very end. - Louis G. Atsaves - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:44 pm: The most logical thing to do is to begin scaling back operations and spending, something government as a rule is loathe to do. I’m no economist and I have no answers or time but someone needs now to pour over the budget in detail using the question “what the heck is this?” as a benchmark. If my math is correct then doubling the income tax still means the deficit is not erased. And when you consider fewer folks are working right now and more are taking home less pay, that means doubling the income tax will bring in less projected revenues in this economic climate. Time for all the elected constitutional officers, the four legislative leaders and the elected general assembly to show some leadership and begin making some very tough decisions. You can’t band-aide this type of a deficit. Those budgets weren’t Rod’s alone. The GA voted for those budgets each year. Time for everyone elected to a Springfield office to grow up. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:44 pm: At least we got rid of Blago. Can you imagine trying to deal with this problem with him in office? - TaxMeMore - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:44 pm: Let us not forget Blago’s Gross Receipts Tax proposal that would’ve been the largest tax increase ever for any US state. Blago seems to forget it. - tanstaafl - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:44 pm: Anon@12:41 - remember, he is now the “former Governor” - Secret Square - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:46 pm: I strongly suspect that another reason Blago didn’t want to be governor any longer (as recorded on the federal wiretaps), in addition to his own personal financial need, was his knowledge that this fiscal disaster was fast approaching and that with the economy tanking fast, there was going to be no way to hide it any longer. He wanted to get outta Dodge before he had to deal with it. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 12:52 pm: Being a state employee I obviously have a vested interest in this situation. I am horrified that this situation has come to this. The problems that we face include the fact that staff levels have been cut severely in the last 6 years and there isn’t much meat left on the bones - tax increases to cover this “holy moly” would further damage the frail economy in this state. If 3rd world countries can get their bad debt forgiven, why not our state. I don’t think we’re much better off than most of those countries. This is frightful. - Ken - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:00 pm: Big tax increase coming. Don’t you just love what the democrats have done to ruin our state! - Dan S, a Voter and Cubs Fan - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:01 pm: Just send the bill to citizen Rod Blagojevich, it’s a start. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:11 pm: ===If 3rd world countries can get their bad debt forgiven, why not our state.=== They owe banks and governments. We owe providers, state employees, etc. Big difference. - zatoichi - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:16 pm: None of this is a surprise. The structural deficit has existed for years and has been purposefully ignored like it will just go away. So RRB goes on TV saying he held the line on taxes. Great. In the meantime costs in virtually every business operation climbed, Ameren got increases, health insurance jumped huge, min wage goes up, road asphalt went up, McDonalds raises prices. Seat in Wrigley bleachers. Ain’t the same price it was 5 years a go. Where is that car price? Working with a local plumbing contractor on a project - the prices they pay for equipment now goes up every 2-3 weeks compared to once in 6 months just 3 years ago. Stuff just simply costs more. Not good or bad, just is. Watch California. They are hitting $42B because of large layoffs and investments are down which translates to fewer state dollars while state payouts (unemployment benefits, comp, insurance) keep going up. This is Quinn’s issue now but it has been a GA/Blago project in the making for years. What is the best solution? Not going to pay providers (medical, non-profit, suppliers, education, and construction) until they go under? What are the priority items and what should be let go because bucks are not there? All those tax breaks given to the companies to move in actually working? This is the rock and another rock scenario. There are no good easy solutions. The Fed stimulus package would help for a year or 2 but unless the basic underlying premise of the state’s economy is changed, it will just be another expensive bandaid. What gets cut and by how much? Those structural deficits costs keep marching on whether they are acknowledged or not. The so-called secret tax plan? Secret to whoever wants to ignore it. Where else is the level of money needed to dig out of this hole coming from? - Cousin Ralph - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:34 pm: The DEMs have totally and completely controlled Illinois government for the last eight years as well as Chicago and Cook County. Government services “cut to the bone,” a big tax increase looming and still massive deficits. Blaming it all on Blago is not going to work. All you hard Ds must be soooo proud of your record of accomplishment. Thanks a bunch! - dupage dan - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:40 pm: Rich, I intended that bit re 3rd world countries to be tongue in cheek. Obviously, it didn’t come out that way. The shock is just not wearing off. We can bash GovRod only so long before we figure out what to do. Problem is, there is no easy way out. I say again - this is frightful - RobRoy - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:47 pm: I’m hearing that the state spending on NEW programs started under the Blago rule are around $6 billion. Quinn, I am sure, is looking at those as the GA should be. There is no way to cut our way out of tax increases….motor fuel, sales tax on services, income, you name it, they are all on the table. - Keep Smiling - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:49 pm: If we do resort to a state income tax increase, I think Quinn will have to take the opportunity for education funding reform. Doing so will make deficit reduction a lot more complicated, plus Huberman or his replacement will need some warm-up time, so income tax increase needs to go in the Year 2 box. Along the same lines as Oswego Willy, I say raise gas taxes this year for a state capital bill, as well as some deficit reduction. Target revenue to capture maximum fed $, and consider point-of-sale as the basis for a capital project distribution formula. In the meantime, initiate a major waste reduction/energy efficiency program for all State government offices and offer advertising on the I-PASS signs where Blagos name used to be. Those signs are bleeping golden and we shouldn’t cover em up with nothing. And if there was a serious campaign to donate $ toward deficit reduction, matched with a very clear plan of how the reduction would be achieved, I’d do it. The best thing you can do for the kids is to help them out of their debt. - BigDog - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 1:55 pm: Is it just me, or is anyone else disturbed by the fact that the State of Illinois basically just said - “Oops, we’re in a financial hole that is almost TWICE as large as we thought it was”. How can somebody not be more on top of this kind of information?? - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 2:03 pm: Ladies and Gentlemen - Last year most of you in this state vote for change. Now is the time for that change. Perhaps you thought that other people will be forced to change, but actually, the change that is occurring doesn’t exempt you. Change isn’t easy. It will be upsetting. There will be uncertainty. Many sleepless nights for many of us. But we have two choices… We can have change force it’s way on us and try to mollify it by putting ad hoc solutions on our current system. Then hope that the change is fleeting and we can turn back the clock to when our system functioned. Or we can take the change and change. Strip down our governments. Perhaps eliminate an entire level of governments called townships. Perhaps we will see governments forced to merge - maybe even towns. We simply cannot demand that working families support ad hoc measures that will ultimately fail. And - every family needs to pay taxes in order to be invested into our governments. There cannot be free-riders, or even pretend that free-ridership can exist. Seniors can no longer expect to vote themselves rich by throwing legislation and budgets at their household costs of pharmaceuticals, health care and what-nots. Change requires responsibility. If we do not handle this change as adults had in the past, our children and grandchildren will be hobbled in ways we never were. There will be future changes that will happen in their lifetimes without demanding that we put tax burdens on them. Illinois suffers from structural deficits due to this idea that perhaps today’s bills can be paid with tomorrow’s money. This idea has been pushed to the absurd and beyond. There is no balanced budget when we begin Budget Day 1 with $4 billion in debt. We are lying to ourselves, and electing representative that are forced to lie to us in return. I don’t know how to contract an economy or government without pain. But we have to contract this government as our state economy stagnates or we will wreck any future we might have. Everyone takes a hit. For our future. - Concerned Observer - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 2:05 pm: BigDog — as every elected official from Quinn on down has pointed out over the last few weeks, Blagojevich would not share financial details with the people who needed that information. Even the comptroller and treasurer were working in the dark, to a great extent. They hadn’t all met since 2003. What does that tell you about how our recently deposed overlord felt about sharing information? - shermans ghost - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 2:10 pm: I think in this case we need a little out-of-the-box thinking and I’ve got a great scheme, oops sorry, idea. Instead of selling the lottery or parking meter revenues, or other little money makers, let’s go for a major revenue boost that doesn’t come from our tax payers. How ’bout we either sell or lease parts of the state. Say some northern counties could be leased long term by Wisconsin and Iowa, and those Southerners could get picked up by kentucky and Missouri. The only problem I can see is Cook, but maybe some one would want to lease it, maybe for a shorter term. That way we get out of financial issues, and maybe foist some of those pesky tax payers off on other states while we concentrate on the important issues like …………. well something. Then we can declare bankruptcy and avoid it all. - GOPvotecounter - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 2:46 pm: Whats new? We have known about this for years now! For the last 6 years Blago and Madigan have been fighting over raising the income tax and every year the budget grew. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 2:55 pm: Can the phrase “think outside the box” be retired? It means nothing. - bockrand - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 3:17 pm: RodBlo spins it to the end by saying we can expect an income tax increase of 33-66%. With a flat 3% tax rate that is an increase of 1-2%. That would put us right in line with our neighbors: MO 1.5 - 6% with the 6% for income over $9001 IN 3.4% IA .36 - 8.98% KY 2 - 6% OH .618 - 6.24% WI 4.6 - 6.75% I’m not one for higher taxes but in our situation a little more paid by all puts our state on much more solid financial ground. - tanstaafl - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 3:34 pm: Rich - According to the SJR, Granberg is out at IDNR. Quinn has withdrawn his nomination. - Lefty Lefty - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 3:41 pm: I tend to agree with Cousin Ralph–the DEMs are to blame. I just don’t think a Republican-controlled state would have done anything better. Ryan bloated the budget pretty well when he was around. - You Go Boy - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 3:44 pm: How about a $6 Billion Dollar Fundraiser - a dunk tank with Blago and assorted pols on the trap door. $50 a throw….oh yeah, no screen. (….of COURSE it wouldn’t be voluntary on THEIR part. This is what we will call the “New Accountability” of the Quinn Admin. - 3 beers to springfield - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 4:05 pm: Most people will accept a permanent income tax increase of 1 percent and a temporary increase of two percent. Get rid of the entire “Opportunity Returns” program created by Blagoevich not to promote economic development but to push his pet projects. It’s a joke. - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 4:14 pm: Can the phrase “think outside the box” be retired? It means nothing. How about “think outside the bun.” Worked for Taco Bell. However, McDonald’s profits are up in a down economy, thanks in part to their dollar menu. - Segatari - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 4:33 pm: After watching Rod Blagojevich on Letterman last night and his continued refrain of they booted me out of office so they can raise our taxes…my message is this: “This is why you were thrown out of office. We are in the mess we’re in because of your gross mismanagment and incompetence that we have this giant budget mess. So taxes may indeed get raised, only because you messed up the books so bad and lied about the damage.” - Louis G. Atsaves - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 5:51 pm: I’m a little confused here. The budget mess is only Blagojevich’s fault? The GA had no hand in it? As I recall, Hynes has been sounding alarms for the past couple of years on the state of Illinois financial picture. - Anonymous Coward - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 6:14 pm: Blagojevich made late health funding move February 4, 2009 6:07 PM On his last day in office, Rod Blagojevich moved to increase payments to Illinois doctors’ caring for sick children, which is the subject of criminal allegations against the former governor. In a memo obtained by the Tribune, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Barry Maram, who oversees the state Medicaid insurance program for the poor, increased reimbursement to pediatric specialists who provide services that include “neonatal and pediatric critical care services,” according to the memo dated Jan. 29. On that day, the Illinois Senate removed Blagojevich from office. Maram would not comment on the timing of the Blagojevich administration’s move, but said the department has been examining increasing specialty physician rates for children and adults for several years. The governor’s office has wide discretion when it comes to funding certain Medicaid programs. In this case, Blagojevich did not need legislative approval to direct Maram and his department to increase such payments. Among the more lurid allegations in a Dec. 9 criminal complaint against Blagojevich was that he wanted a $50,000 contribution from the head of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago for backing $8 million in funding for pediatric doctors throughout the state. The memo from Maram’s office addresses such funding but does not say exactly how much will flow to these doctors. A lawmaker involved in helping the doctors secure the funds said the money would help but is “nowhere near” what’s needed to help the physicians or their patients. A spokesman for Gov. Patrick Quinn said Blagojevich’s move would be reviewed along with all other last-minute decisions by the former governor. “I don’t think it had anything to do with doing the right thing by the kids but more with covering his ‘bleep’ in regarding the criminal trial,” said Rep. Susan Mendoza (D-Chicago). “Now he can say in court, I released those funds. That’s what this is about and nothing else.” Without the funding, pediatric specialists and hospitals say sick children can be put on waiting lists for care, putting their health at risk. Children’s and a group of pediatric specialists had formed a coalition called “We Care for Illinois Kids” to highlight the need to pay specialists on behalf of sick children because there are many doctors in Illinois who do not accept payments from Medicaid, citing its low reimbursements. “This is a really important step toward providing more adequate Medicaid reimbursement to our pediatric specialists who care for our state’s sickest kids but more work needs to be done,” said Julie Pesch, a spokeswoman for Children’s Memorial. “We will continue to work with lawmakers and Gov. Quinn to ensure that these children have access to care, regardless of whether they have public or private insurance.” Children’s had no comment on the timing of the governor’s move. On Dec. 9, the day the allegations emerged and Blagojevich was arrested, Children’s said it was “disappointed” the funding had been “tied to an alleged pay-for-play scheme.” - the concerned citizen - Wednesday, Feb 4, 09 @ 8:00 pm: That’s what ineptness does. They griped about George leaving a deficit…but nothing like this & only took Blago & his enabler buddies over at the GA about 6 years to do it. One party domination & there you go. Making up the rules as they go along. Now that’s got to be some kind of record too I’d think. maybe ‘Obama can send some more “stimulus” our way. Blago ran off the business , natural income growth& created an environment where it’s difficult to operate. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.