57 Comments - Shock & Awww(e) - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 11:31 am: 9% cuts across the board? When Brady proposed 10%, Quinn called him heartless & naive. Seems a bit ironic. Oh well, this way we get the tax hike and the cuts. Best of both worlds, right PQ? - Siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:07 pm: It’s on Ch 11 in Chicago - FYI. Quinn looks Nixon from the 1960 debates. Someone in his staff needs to work on the lighting for his TV moments. I like the tone of the speech so far. Truth, hard decisions. A lot of pain here, but it’s reality people. Greece is not alone - this is our austerity budget. - Aldyth - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:09 pm: Illinois shouldn’t increase funding for anything until the backlog of unpaid bills is taken care of. - Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:23 pm: Wow. Who is this guy? Where has he been hiding? - Irish - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:24 pm: After mentioning that past governors did not make pension payments PQ says pension payments this year will make up 15% of GRF only a few years ago it was 6%. DUH!! If you don’t make the whole payment it won’t take up as much of the GRF. Then if you start making up those payments the last couple of years it will take up a higher percentage. Bottomline you can’t use that comparison to show the true percentage of what the payment would be if the GA and past administrations had done it right. But watch the Trib and other use those figures to promote their agendas. - Siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:24 pm: Requiring the Governor to use real numbers in the budget address was a good thing by the GA. I remember never listening to a single one of Blago’s budget addresses because they were meaningless speechifying. Sad of course that the legislature has to require the state’s governor to actually talk about the budget in realistic terms, but still this is an improvement. - Todd - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:25 pm: Sounds like a lecturing grand-parent - Foster brooks - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:32 pm: Which CMS garages are they closing? - N'ville - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:33 pm: I have to applaud the members of the General Assembly for their restraint. As far as I can tell nobody laughed out loud at him. - JCE - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:34 pm: Is the budget book available on the web yet? I can’t wait to get a copy. - Siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:35 pm: Amanda Vinicky doing a really nice job, and looking good, on public television post-speech commentary. - Retired Non-Union Guy - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:35 pm: Irish, I believe Ryan did make the pension payments as required by the ramp up … - reformer - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:36 pm: The general fund is down $425 million. I predict Republicans still won’t be satisfied, even as they oppose his facility closures. - JCE - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:38 pm: Assuming his budget numbers are based on solid assumptions, this was the speech that Illinois has been waiting for–for decades. - AtALoss - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:38 pm: It seemed to me he mentioned only pension reforms for three state pensions systems. TRS, SURS and SERS I’m guessing. How about the legislative pensions? Pensions for a part-time job? and at 80% of the final day’s salary after 20 years. For example, if Flider becomes new Ag Dir. his pension would become 80% of that salary………not his lesser legislative salary. Why not talk about reforms in this area? - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:40 pm: @JCE It is posted online. http://www.state.il.us/budget/default.asp - AtALoss - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:40 pm: Shared sacrifice mentioned, but I didn’t hear anything about grounding the State planes and helicopters. And what’s up with getting “special session pay” when they work during the summer? - Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:41 pm: Rambling was at a minimum. The Gov sounded serious and appears to be serious about straightening out the budget. Now, will he sit down to the tough task of negotiating? - Walk in my shoes - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:43 pm: Just advised the reason youth maximum security prison in Joliet was chosen because it “looks like an adult prison”, This facility houses youth convicted of the worst crimes in IL. I.e. Murder, rape, child molestation, UUW, Aggravated Battery, Aggravated Robbery etc. Does it really matter what the outside looks like? This has got to be the lamest reason I have ever heard to close a facility. - AtALoss - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:43 pm: I do agree that education is important, but with our current economy, is now really the time to increase early childhood education and MAP grants? How about more “work/study?” - JCE - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:44 pm: @TCB - Thanks! - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:45 pm: @ Pot I think the better question is will the leaders be willing to sit down with him? Madigan & Cullerton already seem to have some disdain for PQ & might be more angry after this speech in which Quinn seemed to be pointing the finger at the GA for this mess. - Siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:47 pm: Now is exactly the right time to invest in education AtALoss. It’s not a big item, but putting an extra 10% into early childhood education and higher education access for needy students is the most important thing we can do. People keep talking about the US falling behind China, look at what they are doing over there - they keep building schools and universities so that more of their kids can be highly educated. Cutting education is foolish. I think this was a good budget outline by the governor. - Liberty First - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:51 pm: Political speak for “everything is on the table” means we haven’t paid in the past so we don’t have to pay in the future only this time our lack of payment will not be deceptive because we are admitting we won’t make the payments. - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:51 pm: If you look at the state board of education’s budget as a whole, even with the Governor’s increases, it’s still down by several hundred million dollars (unless Im confused, $600M) compared to FY12…….this ofcourse has to do with ARRA money phasing out. As a state, when the Fed funds phase out, we cannot allow the children of Illinois to suffer. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 12:56 pm: Madigan: “Springfield is a nice town in July and August.” Ruh-roh. Pack your swimming suits people. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 1:01 pm: –total General Funds spending $33.77B, up $500M from FY12 adopted budget.– I make that a 1.5% increase. According to the BLS, the current national all-items inflation rate is 2.9%. For other items: Medical services, 3.7%. Food, 4.4%. Energy commodities (gasoline, heating oil), 10%. - Y2D - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 1:28 pm: I liked it. He said what I had hoped for - a reasoned approach and direct ideas for a big budget problem. - He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 1:28 pm: They can with a quick vote adjust the RAMP. They should shoot for 75% by 2055. That would cut the amount required for annual payments. - Shock & Awww(e) - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 1:46 pm: Good tone to the speech. Need many more specifics, but reality may be sinking in. Bit concerned about some of his ideas in reviewing these budget docs. Cut 17 State Police but hire 50 IDOT workers? etc. Still too early to get a solid feel for the soundness of his overall plan. - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 2:37 pm: @ Shock -Bit concerned about some of his ideas in reviewing these budget docs. Cut 17 State Police but hire 50 IDOT workers? etc.- I’ve yet to look through the budget book entirely yet, but ISP is GRF funded & IDOT is funded with the Road Fund. Why let the IDOT continue to run short-staffed during the biggest construction program in the state’s history when the positions aren’t even funded with General Funds? - dupage dan - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 2:45 pm: 47th Ward, Nice channeling of Scoobie Doo…lol - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 2:47 pm: Very cool map of the closures/consolidations of facilities. The look pretty evenly distributed geographically acorss the state to me. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212513024112419168540.0004b990522dcbfbcbd3f&msa=0&ll=39.968701,-89.022217&spn=5.371292,12.568359 - Ahoy - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 2:58 pm: –Of note–the Road Fund was slashed—1/2 of last year and lowest since 1999.– SenateGOP tweeted this but can not find any information regarding it. Anyone else read or hear this? - Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:13 pm: Closing State garages run by CMS saves no GRF or Road cash as the garages are financed by a revolving fund. - Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:14 pm: If we can begin to get our outrageous deficits under control in the fairest way possible, that will be great. Of course, somebody is bound to be hurt, but is there any other way around that? Rep. Greg Harris, whom I admire, told me a few years back that we can’t nickel and dime our way out of this. Illinois can be a great example of how to make very tough choices with bipartisan cooperation. I hope it can get done soon. I liked the part of Quinn’s speech where he was talking about enhancing education, and the importance of infrastructure. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:15 pm: I’m puzzled how 9% across the board cuts is fundamentally different than the 10% cuts that Quinn lambasted Brady for proposing. Beyond that, I am shocked and pleased that Quinn has finally realized the magnitude of the finanicial disaster under his watch. Even if he does blame the ‘other guys’ for it… - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:32 pm: @ Ahoy, IDOT’s operating budget clearly shows a $2M decrease in General Funds, a $7M decrease in other state funds (Road Fund) and $1M increase in federal funds. Given the $2.6B in total approps for IDOT, these cuts are quite modest so it’s obvious that’s not what they are referring to. So they must be talking about capital dollars, right? Upon looking in the Capital Budgetbook (also at the link I posted above) on page 38, I’ve found a chart that they might be referencing. It shows the capital program appropriations, by year. Specifically the “Bonded” Transportation appropriations by year for IDOT from the capital program. It clearly shows that the approps expected to be expended in Year 2 (which is the current year: FY12) are about $2.3B, while the FY13 plan is $1.1B…….so maybe that’s what she’s referring to? But, this has nothing to do with the Road Fund….this is bonded Illinois Jobs Now appropriation which isn’t repaid by Road Fund, but actually by the Capital Projects Fund. I’m having trouble finding IDOT’s pay-as-you-go capital info for IDOT, which does have a significant Road Fund piece….maybe that’s it? Long story short, I don’t know if the GOP’s are seeing something that I’m not seeing or if they are confused. - Small Town Liberal - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:38 pm: - I’m puzzled how 9% across the board cuts is fundamentally different than the 10% cuts that Quinn lambasted Brady for proposing. - Well, Brady never included any specifics, just kept saying 10%, except when he said he didn’t say it, and then said it again. Also, key difference, Quinn isn’t including education or veterans programs in the cuts. So, yeah, I’d say there’s a bit of a difference. - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:44 pm: @Anon 3:15pm -Beyond that, I am shocked and pleased that Quinn has finally realized the magnitude of the finanicial disaster under his watch. Even if he does blame the ‘other guys’ for it… - I don’t blame Quinn for “blaming the other guys” If you look the budget processes during his term as Governor, here’s how it went 2009: Take office in January with not transition, introduce a budget 1 month later (can’t we cut him some slack on this one?) , 2010: Been governor a year, introduce a budget (while in a primary race with Hynes, which is no excure but it’s worth noting), 2011: Introduced a budget & was then not involved in the process after that (doesn’t matter whose fault it was, the guy didn’t have much say in how it turned out), and finally 2012: introduces a realistic & balanced budget. I’m not saying Quinn is totally blameless here, because he could’ve done much better. But still he was wet behind the ears in his 1st budget cycle, he was in a primary & election in the 2nd budget cycle, he wasn’t involved in crafting his 3rd budget…….Quinn could’ve done a lot of things different, but the budgets that IL ended up with largely were a result of Madigan in each of those 3 years. - Ahoy - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:45 pm: TCB, Thank you, I looked through and can’t find what the heck they are talking about either. Probably misspoke or don’t know what they are talking bout. Also, to all the sour grape republican’s, the governor is not calling for a 10% across the board spending reduction. Are there some similarities between the two proposals? Yes, there are. It was also a campaign, Brady said a lot of things, and Quinn said a lot of things and neither one of them had/have the answers. Either way, Quinn isn’t cutting the budget by 9% and Brady wasn’t going to cut the Budget by 10%. Let’s move on and discuss the future. Also, someone tell the GOP to stop complaining and get to work. - Shock & Awww(e) - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:48 pm: Anonymous @3:15 - the difference is that with PQ at the helm, we also get a tax hike o_O TCB @2:37 - IDOT receives General Funding as well. PQ’s budget proposal sends $19.4 million in General Funds to IDOT and increases headcount by 50. It also reduces General Funds to the State Police by $21.1 million, almost an identical amount, and reduces their headcount by 17. There are plenty of other personnel cuts and other choices one may point to if they want. This particular comparison caught my eye because of the comparable General Fund numbers but contrasting headcount numbers. Wasn’t necessarily passing judgment just yet, mostly trying to say it’s interesting seeing the priorities this budget sets. Where do you put those $20 million in General Funds? Police? IDOT? DHS? etc. Overall, the tone of his speech bodes well in comparison to prior years. Perhaps PQ will continue building momentum with additional leadership and action. Let’s hope. - Bill - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:50 pm: Could someone ask Forby what state prison in Chicago he would like to close? Thanks. - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:57 pm: @Shock, Not sure where you’re getting this $19.4M increase in General Funds for IDOT? Or am I misunderstanding you? IDOT has $19.2M in GRF funding (in total), which is down from $21.2M last year….a $2.0M decrease. IDOT is not getting $19M in additional GRF funding, as you make it seem. Regardless, IDOT general funds money isn’t used at all for paying employee or adding headcount as these funds are entirely grants (to fund reduced fares for elderly/disabled on RTA & for PACE). See page 5-153 of the Operating Book. - Shock & Awww(e) - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 3:59 pm: @ Ahoy May have been referencing the table on page 2-65 of the proposed operating budget. It shows the fund’s cash balance at the beginning of the year in 2013 is less than 1/2 that of 2012. Or perhaps reference was in regards to the fund’s cash balance at the end of the year. - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 4:14 pm: Correction of my 3:57 comment…. IDOT has $19.4M in GRF funding (in total), which is down from $21.4M last year….a $2.0M decrease. However, my point remains the same, there is not headcount tied to any of this appropriation, all headcount (including the 50 people they plan to add) in IDOT is funded with other state funds. - Shock & Awww(e) - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 4:24 pm: @ TCB You are misunderstanding, or perhaps I am not communicating clearly enough. I never mentioned increased IDOT funding. PQ’s budget proposal sends $19.4 million in General Funds to IDOT. It also increases headcount by 50. The budget reduces General Funds to the State police by roughly the same amount. It also reduces headcount. The Gov. has limited $ General Funds to spend. The Gov. also have to make cuts. It’s interesting to see what gets increased, what gets cut and what remains the same. Who gets that $20 million? Do you leave that funding with IDOT while cutting police? Do direct all that funding to the Police to prevent those layoffs while letting IDOT make do on Road Funds and Federal funding? Do you send some of it to the State Police, some of it to IDOT for grants and some of it elsewhere? Those are difficult choices that reflect priorities. For example, I’m glad to see the $29,000 increase in homeless Veterans funding on page 5-161 after a $110,000 cut last year, but dismayed to see the $2 million cut in infant mortality grants on page 5-109. That’s reality. There is no infinite sum of money here to simply print our problems away. Unless PQ suddenly establishes the Illinois Federal Reserve. Now that could be fun. - TCB - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 4:34 pm: Ahh my apologies, I thought you were implying that the Governor removes $20M from ISP & gave it to IDOT. Yea, as for how things shuffled out, its pretty simple really….all the money cut when to 2 places, pensions & education (minus the amount of revenue growth) for the most part. - Retired Non-Union Guy - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 5:06 pm: Arthur Andersen @ 3:13 pm: That’s a distinction w/o a difference. The fees any revolving fund takes in from the various agencies usually come from their GRF lines. If the expenses incurred by one of the revolving funds is reduced, then they can reduce the fees charged to the other agencies … and you can end up with GRF savings. - soccermom - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 5:31 pm: @Bill A point that Forby may prefer not to address. - steve schnorf - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 5:32 pm: RNUG-that’s assuming they no longer get there cars and trucks repaired at all, rather than some where else - Wickedred - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 5:54 pm: Rich, got to see you on tv before it. I understand things are bad, but seriously I get tired of the budget problems being due to state employees. That it’s because of our pensions. Really? 22% of people who get the pensions from the state are state employees. 75% are teachers and related. We are all taxpayers in this currently Godforsaken state. Quinn swept through the discussion of the 59 facility closures. Where are the people supposed to go that need help? While there are no easy answers about how to fix our budget crisis, there really aren’t answers for what people who need assistance are supposed to do. - Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 6:01 pm: Thanks, Steve. You said that much more succinctly than old AA would have. - Walk in my shoes - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 7:39 pm: Just finished his reason for closing IYC Joliet. 1). Looks most like adult prison Does the Governor not know it is a maximum security prison for Illinois most violent young adult offenders? It houses not only the most violent but the oldest population. Average age at IYCJoliet is 18. These are not children. 2) IYC Joliet has the largest population of all IDJJ facilities 3) Youth will be transferred to KEW (the youth at JOE do not fit the criteria at KEW. Previous attempts to transfer youth there have resulted in an almost immediate transfer back based on negative behavior. 4) Youth will be transferred to HRB. This has also been attempted previously. IYC JOE houses all youth offenders that have shown extreme negative and violent behavior from other facilities. A major fact that is missing is most of IYC JOLIET’S population is from Cook, Kane, Lake, Will, DuPage and Winnebago counties. It will be an extreme hardship for the parent’s to visit their children at either KEW or HRB. Not having parental contact/visits go against the mission statement of IDJJ. - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 10:27 pm: Is McKinney going for some kind of record with most successive tweets. Sheesh. - wishbone - Wednesday, Feb 22, 12 @ 10:57 pm: “Not having parental contact/visits go against the mission statement of IDJJ.” Then change the friggen mission statement. Problem solved. - Flandall - Thursday, Feb 23, 12 @ 6:51 am: $400 million for Sears, fire 2000 state workers and through helpless people into the streets. I didn’t know Quinn was a Republican? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.