The $165 million LIHEAP skim
Monday, Feb 23, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois utility ratepayers pay an extra surcharge on their monthly bills to help pay for energy assistance for the poor, like their heating bills. And last week, during one of the coldest weeks of the year, Gov. Rauner proposed taking that utility surcharge money and using it for the General Revenue Fund…
Trouble is, Rauner can’t just grab the money. State law requires utilities like Commonwealth Edison, Nicor Gas and Peoples Gas, which collect the funds, to use them for the intended purposes or reimburse ratepayers. So Rauner will need a change in those laws to shift the utility-collected funds to the state’s general fund. A spokeswoman confirms he will propose just such a change. […]
Striking in any case is the fact that an Illinois governor has proposed, in effect, to transform utility-bill payments aimed at helping the most disadvantaged into a state tax stream.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is a federally funded pool of money that in Illinois generally is distributed each winter to needy households to keep current on their bills and prevent gas shutoffs when April comes around. The funds generated through the utility surcharges add another 50 percent to the money available when combined with the federal allocation. For Illinoisans in the current fiscal year, the utility surcharges for LIHEAP generated $165 million, according to the governor’s budget document.
The LIHEAP changes Rauner proposes affect only the state’s contribution to that program, not the $330 million that Illinois gets from the federal government for low-income heating help.
“To close a $6 billion budget deficit and address years of fiscal mismanagement, the governor’s budget brings Illinois in line with 20 other states that use only federal dollars to fund the program,” a Rauner spokeswoman says in a statement. “Illinois households that need help paying utility bills will continue receiving subsidies. As in the past, the state will work to make sure that subsidies go to those most in need.”
Discuss.
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Question of the day
Monday, Feb 23, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
The scary thing is that some people are already getting nervous about an extended legislative session this year.
It is supposed to conclude by the end of May, as usual, but lawmakers are already wondering if the stage is being set for a protracted session that could drag out for much of the summer.
“We could see a revisit of 2004, when we were here all summer long trying to hash these things out,” said Rep. ELAINE NEKRITZ, D-Northbrook, after the budget speech last week. […]
While many Democrats favor increased taxes to help ease the need for budget cuts, Rauner has said he wants no new revenues. Nekritz said she doesn’t see a tax hike passing with only Democratic votes. If Republicans won’t support more revenue and all the budget balancing has to come from cuts, look out.
That 2004 session was brutal and didn’t end until Democrats started to worry that they could overshadow US Sen. Obama’s keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.
Of course, the 2007 and 2008 overtimes were even worse.
* Peoria Journal Star…
Last week at the Peoria County Democrats’ Presidents Day Dinner, state Sen. Dave Koehler suggested he and wife Nora weren’t planning on any vacations during the summer, given some of the fights that could be brewing in Springfield, especially over right-to-work zones that Rauner has proposed.
Immediately after the governor’s budget address, state Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, made the same prediction, albeit for different reasons.
With Rauner proposing to slay — or at least hobble — so many sacred budgetary cows in order to get Illinois government back to spending what it can afford to spend, so many different people have different reasons to be obstructionist. That includes legislators, lobbyists and state employees.
Drawn-out negotiations will not be a surprise, along with some heated language, both in public and behind closed doors. Although to their credit, Rauner and legislative leaders have been so far restrained and respectful. That signals this won’t be another Blagojevich-like breakdown in communications.
* The Question: Do you think the legislative session will go into overtime this year? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
feedback surveys
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* From a press release…
The Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS) released a comprehensive plan today to address the misuse and abuse of powerful opioid prescription medications. Due to their high potential for addiction, opioids are classified as Schedule II drugs. ISMS developed the report, Recommendations for Deterring Improper Use of Opioids, for the Illinois House Task Force on the Heroin Crisis, chaired by House Democratic Majority Leader Lou Lang (D-Skokie), as a framework for Illinois legislation.
Illinois physicians suggest taking a pro-active approach to maintain our state’s good standing in the appropriate prescribing of opioid medications. Illinois’ low rate of oxycodone prescribing exemplifies physicians’ cautious use of a powerful medication. Of the total oxycodone prescriptions issued nationwide in 2013, Illinois had a per capita use of only .05, ranking 50th in the United States. By contrast, Tennessee had over six times as much utilization of oxycodone per capita, ranking at third in the nation with a .31 utilization rate per capita.
* Full details are here. A few of the dot points…
· Expanding and strengthening Illinois’ Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP), a statewide data base that prescribers can check to prevent “doctor shopping.”
The PMP is a valuable resource for prescribers to identify patients seeking medication for illicit use. ISMS has identified several strategies to expand the PMP’s use and effectiveness.
Presenting new opportunities for continuing medical education for opioid prescribers.
ISMS supports increasing prescribers’ access to educational opportunities and information by developing the PMP as a vehicle for sharing such material.
Increasing access to naloxone, a medication used to counteract opioid and heroin overdose.
Several Illinois communities have initiated programs to promote naloxone availability; however, it is not readily available without prescription in most areas. Illinois must make naloxone more accessible to law enforcement, family members of at-risk patients and other first responders.
Promoting safe medication disposal sites.
Opioid abusers commonly obtain medication from a friend or family member’s medicine cabinet. Expanding patient education and options for medication disposal will help keep addictive medications out of abusers’ hands.
Most are just common sense. I’m not sure how effective this plan will be. I don’t see any penalties for docs. Your thoughts?
* Somewhat related…
* Docs in the medical pot business can’t recommend their patients to use it
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* The AP looks at the governor’s proposed $1.5 billion Medicaid cut…
(H)ospitals are a main target, shouldering $735 million in payment cuts — a 13 percent reduction, according to the Illinois Hospital Association. That may prove difficult to accomplish. Hospitals are major employers in many districts and the association will tell lawmakers the statewide economic impact of cuts would equate to 12,591 jobs lost.
The association’s political action committee contributes to candidates of both parties, giving $463,055 last year in Illinois races, including $150,000 to Pat Quinn’s losing campaign. […]
“There will be difficult discussions,” predicted Rep. Patti Bellock, a Hinsdale Republican who helped lead a bipartisan panel that hammered out the Medicaid cuts passed in 2012 known as the SMART Act. “There are a lot of districts where hospitals are extremely important. I consider them the backbone of our communities.” […]
The proposed payment cut to hospitals is nearly three times what the facilities lost in funding in 2012, said A.J. Wilhelmi of the Illinois Hospital Association. He warned of unintended consequences. “When you cut Medicaid, there’s a cost shift to the private insurance market and therefore middle-class families will pay more,” Wilhelmi said.
Rauner’s budget would cut $216 million from nursing homes (a SMART Act restoration) and save $40 million by ending a fee to pharmacies for dispensing brand-name drugs.
* Tribune…
The Illinois Hospital Association estimated that the cuts would result in 12,591 lost jobs and $1.75 billion in lost economic activity in the state.
Those most affected are hospitals that serve large numbers of Medicaid patients, Illinois Hospital Association spokesman Danny Chun said.
Norwegian American Hospital CEO Jose Sanchez said the majority of its almost entirely Hispanic and African-American patient-base in the Humboldt Park neighborhood rely on Medicaid for health insurance.
“If all of these cuts got through, it will have a devastating impact on the hospital,” Sanchez said. “We are 55 percent Medicaid.”
* IRN…
“There is no cost savings” to excluding adult dental care from Medicaid, said Dave Marsh of the Illinois State Dental Society. “It’s minuscule. But the pain and suffering of the population who would be affected by this is staggering.”
“There is a connection between the mouth and the rest of the body,” said Dr. Bruce Rotter, dean of the SIU School of Dental Medicine. “Approximately a third to a half of adult patients have periodontal disease.”
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Rauner’s punt
Monday, Feb 23, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
After he was elected, but before he was sworn in to office, Bruce Rauner repeatedly lambasted Gov. Pat Quinn and the legislative Democrats for passing a “booby trap” budget that was about to blow up in the state’s collective face.
Rauner was absolutely right. Last year’s budget was irresponsible and didn’t deal with the reality of the expiring income tax hike. As a result, the state’s budget is in a terribly deep hole right now.
But did Gov. Rauner really make all the “tough choices” necessary to get us out of that hole during his budget address as he promised? Well, he sure proposed a lot of cuts. But he planted at least one major booby trap himself.
As you may already know, Rauner proposed a pension reform plan that he says would save at least $2.2 billion in the first year.
Set aside the fact that both Rep. Elaine Nekritz and Sen. Daniel Biss, who both worked very hard on the Legislature’s pension reform law, cannot fathom how Rauner’s proposal to move every state employee and public school teacher into the lower-cost “Tier Two” pension plan on July 1 will actually save that much money in the first year, or “immediately” knock $25 billion off the state’s massive unfunded liability. Let’s just take him at his word on this one, as supremely difficult as that likely is.
The problem with the plan is that he’s counting on that $2.2 billion “savings” to help balance the budget next fiscal year. All those who believe that a judge won’t almost immediately stop the plan’s implementation, as another judge did to the last pension reform law, please raise their hands.
Anybody?
Hello?
I didn’t think so.
There is no way on God’s green Earth that the state can rely on that $2.2 billion savings next fiscal year. It’s a complete and utter fantasy, which makes this yet another dishonest budget.
House Speaker Michael Madigan called the idea “reckless” after the governor’s budget address.
Madigan’s right, but his counterproposal wasn’t a solution, either.
Madigan resurrected the idea of a 3 percentage point tax on personal income above a million dollars. But, at most, Madigan’s proposal would only raise a billion dollars a year. The deficit is nine times that amount.
And then there’s the problem of implementation. Madigan’s spokesman reaffirmed that the proposal can’t be put into place without first winning the approval of voters via a constitutional amendment referendum. But that can’t be done for almost two years. The idea has zero worth for next fiscal year’s budget, which begins on July 1.
OK, back to Rauner. During and after the campaign, Rauner said Quinn and the Democrats had constantly “kicked the can” down the road. Again, he was right. This fiscal year’s budget plan moved spending off budget, which created gigantic holes in next fiscal year’s budget.
But Rauner did the exact same thing last week with employee group health insurance. The state’s backlog is about a billion dollars. Some providers aren’t being paid for a year. But Rauner would increase that backlog by up to $700 million by cutting the money spent on health insurance next fiscal year and not dealing with projected cost increases. His “savings” are completely illusory.
Ironically enough, the governor visited a Hormel Foods plant the day after delivering his budget address. No word on whether he kicked a can of Spam down the hallway while he was there.
And then there’s the myriad smallish savings he derives from eliminating tiny programs that benefit some of the most vulnerable people in Illinois. Homeless youth services will be eliminated, for example. And at a time when heroin use is skyrocketing, Rauner proposes to cut the state’s treatment program.
The state eliminated Medicaid funding for dental services a few years ago. It was restored when Democrats, with plenty of evidence, claimed the cut was actually leading to higher costs elsewhere in the Medicaid budget. Rauner wants to eliminate it again.
The bottom line here is that no matter whatever else you read or hear, this budget is neither honest nor real.
It’s instead a too-clever-by-half concoction of budgetary magic beans.
After two years of avoiding any sort of detailed questions about his budget plans while on the campaign trail, Rauner basically punted the entire budget to the General Assembly last week. And it’s difficult to have much confidence in those particular folks after how badly they screwed up this year’s budget.
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Uh-oh
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Reuters…
A deal to plug a $1.6 billion hole in Illinois’ current budget is not imminent, the president of the state Senate said on Friday, contradicting assertions this week from the governor and House Speaker.
Senate President John Cullerton told Reuters the fiscal year 2016 budget unveiled by Governor Bruce Rauner on Wednesday complicates negotiations over the budget gap in fiscal 2015, which ends June 30. An impasse could potentially threaten cutoff of operating funds for child care, prisons and other state institutions, he added.
The Republican governor’s $32 billion general budget for fiscal 2016 beginning July 1, aims to chop $6.6 billion from healthcare, local government revenues, mass transit and other areas. It raises no new revenue and controversial pension changes account for $2.2 billion of the savings.
“Because it’s slashing programs and no revenue, I think that’s going to make it difficult for us to reach an agreement” on the 2015 budget gap, said Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat.
In his budget address Wednesday, Rauner said a resolution was “literally days away.” Madigan, also a Chicago Democrat, said after the speech he expected a deal “in a matter of days.”
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Rauner’s Friday afternoon appointments
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Rich Brauer is moving to IDOT…
Governor Bruce Rauner announced today he has selected a new Assistant Secretary for the Illinois Department of Transportation and filled openings on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.
Name: Rich Brauer
Position: Assistant Secretary – Illinois Department of Transportation
Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Rep. Rich Brauer to serve as the Assistant Secretary at the Illinois Department of Transportation. Brauer has served on transportation committees, and as a downstate resident, he will be a strong advocate for the region on transportation issues.
For the past 13 years, Brauer worked for the people of Illinois in the General Assembly as a state representative. His committee assignments included Transportation, Regulation, Roads; Transportation: Vehicles & Safety; Tourism & Conventions; and Appropriations, among others.
Brauer also spent much of his career in the agricultural industry as the owner of OASIS Farms, a farrow-to-finish operation. As the owner he oversaw the creation of new facilities and managed employees. He is a member of the Illinois Farm Bureau. Brauer is also the past president of the Illinois Pork Producers and served on the Board of Directors of the National Pork Producers.
Brauer attended Southern Illinois University and Western Illinois University.
Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission
Name: Joann Fratianni-Atsaves
Position: Chairman – Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission
Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Joann Fratianni-Atsaves as the chairman of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC). She has 34 years of experience in workers’ compensation law and is currently an arbitrator on the IWCC.
Fratianni-Atsaves has worked for the IWCC for the past 27 years. She began her career as an arbitrator in 1987 and was appointed to be a commissioner from 1990 to 1993. She continued her work as an arbitrator after her term as a commissioner was complete. She currently hears workers’ compensation matters by trial or settlement, and renders written decisions and approves settlement contracts.
Prior to her work for the IWCC, Fratianni-Atsaves worked in private practice at the law offices of Anthony V. Fanone where she handled insurance defense litigation for workers’ compensation matters, often trying cases within the IWCC. She began her legal career at Osterkamp, Jackson & Hollywood.
Fratianni-Atsaves is a graduate of the University of Illinois and earned her law degree at Northern Illinois University.
Name: David Gore
Position: Commissioner – Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission
Governor Bruce Rauner has reappointed David Gore to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC). This will be Gore’s fourth term as a commissioner and he has served on the board since 2006. He represents the employee community as a labor commissioner.
Gore has more than 20 years of experience as an attorney, previously serving as a partner at the law firm Gore & Gore. It specialized in workers’ compensation cases. He also worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the Illinois Attorney General and a staff attorney with the Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau.
Gore also has experience working on workers’ compensation matters as a staff representative for the United Steel Workers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC. He handled unfair labor practice charges and represented the union before the National Labor Relations Board.
Gore holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing, a law degree and an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Name: Kevin Lamborn
Position: Commissioner – Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission
Governor Bruce Rauner has reappointed Kevin Lamborn to a third term as a commissioner of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC). He has served on the board since 2007 as a Business Member Appointee. In this position, he conducts hearings and issues written decisions on litigation appealed from arbitration.
Prior to his work on the IWCC, Lamborn was an associate attorney at Storino, Ramello & Durkin where he practiced municipal law. He represented local municipalities in civil actions, and also served as an Administrative Hearing officer in property impoundment and code violations.
Lamborn’s legal career also included being a partner at McAauley & Lamborn. In that practice, Lamborn focused on a large range of the law including civil litigation, property transactions, work-related injury, and criminal defense, among others.
Lamborn began his career as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County. He worked his way up from traffic court to the felony trial division. He spent his final two years in the Special Prosecutions Bureau, where he investigated and tried cases involving public officials accused of misconduct.
Lamborn received his law degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He earned two bachelor’s degrees in political science and criminal justice from Valparaiso University.
Name: Joshua Luskin
Position: Commissioner – Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission
Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Joshua Luskin to serve as a public member commissioner on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. Luskin is currently an arbitrator on the IWCC and has more than 15 years of law experience.
Prior to his work on the IWCC, Luskin was a partner at the law firm Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie & Lowry, where he specialized in workers’ compensation law. Luskin also served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he handled military prosecution and offered legal service to members of the military. He also worked in the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s office, and in the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s office.
Luskin graduated from Macalester College in 1994 with a degree in philosophy. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan.
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An “ever-burgeoning bureaucracy”
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* John Bambenek and I have become sorta pals over the years. I always appreciate his insights. He’s a former legislative candidate, has his own consulting firm and is a visiting lecturer at UIUC.
When John told me about the huge skim the U of I was taking from tuition and grants, I was appalled and asked him to send me an op-ed. Check it out…
In light of potential higher education budget cuts, I decided to calculate how much of the University of Illinois’ tuition dollars end up in instructors’ pockets.
I teach 125 Computer Science students. Assuming they are all in-state and they are all 3-hour students, they pay about $1,655 to take the class. This adds up to $207,000 paid to the University. It’s actually much higher than that because about half my students are out-of-state and pay double the in-state tuition and I have about a half-dozen 4-hours students.
My salary and the grading staff pay is only about 13% of that $207K. So the vast majority of those tuition dollars goes to things other than actually teaching the class. By way of comparison, when I teach overseas I am paid between 50-60% of the course cost.
Don’t mistake this as a gripe about my pay, I do this because it’s fun and to help deal with a very critical skill shortage in my field.
Some of this is necessary overhead. However, many of the typical overhead costs are paid (or at least subsidized) by student fees like the Academic Facility Maintenance Fund Assessment (for buildings), Transportation Fee, Library and Information Technology Fee and others.
Doing some spot checking of other lecturers on campus I found between 10% and 30% of tuition dollars ended up paying those who actually perform the service people are paying for.
And it’s just as bad on the research side.
The University charges 58% to federal grants for unitemized “overhead charges”. So a large portion of research dollars are spent on things other than direct costs of actually doing the research the institution was paid to do.
The University of Illinois has two missions: teaching and research. The question is why is a majority of the funds in both categories not being spent directly on those missions?
The answer lies in the fact that while the number of students has remained generally flat or grown slightly, the growth in the number of non-teaching administrators has skyrocketed. In the last 25 years, the number of administrators has doubled according to a recent study. Here is a helpful graph to show the problem:
This isn’t to say that support staff are unimportant or that the University needs no administrators. I know in my department I rely on the good work many people do. That said, many faculty members have remarked they don’t feel like the University’s mission is to support those who do teaching and research. They feel that it’s the mission of researchers and teachers to support an ever-burgeoning bureaucracy that delivers nominal benefit to students. With the number above, it’s easy to see why.
The Governor’s budget can easily be spun to say it will cut academic opportunities to college students. Or it can be an opportunity for higher education to focus on its core missions and trim those functions that do little to no good in making it happen.
Discuss.
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* Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new chief of staff ran Rodney Davis’ first congressional campaign. Maybe they’ll finally start to listen to reason on 2.5. From the Republican Congressman’s press conference today…
Rodney telegraphed his message last Wednesday…
Judy Baar Topinka would’ve kicked Rauner’s behind for all of his over the top union bashing. But with her untimely death, no other Republican elected official with ties to organized labor has stepped forward as a voice of reason or as a middle-man.
So, good on Davis. Rauner’s war is not only unwinnable, it’s costing him dearly in the GA.
* Allow me to explain. There’s a reason why Rauner drastically toned down the rhetoric during the general election and said attacking unions wasn’t even on his radar in October. Politics is a game of addition. The race was close. Rauner wanted to win. Why push people away?
Well, every significant legislative roll call is like an election. You need 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate to win. So, why needlessly push people away when you know you have to get some big things done?
The governor was smart in the fall about this issue, but not so much since he was inaugurated.
Hopefully, he’ll listen to Rodney.
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Schock hit with off-season DCCC mailer
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the DCCC…
New Mailer Delivers Aaron Schock’s Latest Ethical Lapses And Tax Dollar Abuses Right To Voters Door
Following a flurry of news stories exposing Congressman Schock’s shocking abuse of tax dollars, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee today launched a direct mail piece to show voters exactly what their hard earned tax dollars were going to fund. This mailer is being delivered to thousands of voters in Schock’s district.
According to reports, Schock spent more than $220,000 in tax payer funds to redecorate his swanky Washington DC office in a Downton Abbey theme, to fund his global gallivanting as well as a private plane and a photographer to chronicle his travels.
“Congressman Schock seems to be confused: he was elected to be a member of Congress, not the Earl of Grantham,” said Matt Thornton of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “His lavish lifestyle and blatant abuse of tax dollars is just the latest head scratching failures from Republicans who control Congress.”
This is not Congressman Schock’s first ethical lapse. In 2013, Schock was involved in an ethics complaint surrounding campaign contributions that also ensnared fellow Republican Congressman Rodney Davis.
* Click the pic for a larger image of the mailer…
I just don’t understand what the Democrats think they are gaining by these attacks except causing a little trouble for a guy in a safe district.
…Adding… People, this is a DCCC mailer - the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It has nothing to do with Kirk’s Senate race or whatever. If anything, the DCCC should be happy to see him move on to greener pastures.
Insights are usually appreciated, but put this into context, please.
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Question of the day
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Bruce Rauner shakes hands with House Speaker Michael Madigan before delivering his budget address…
* The Question: Caption?
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I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but…
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* While some folks are encouraging you to ignore all the specifics of the governor’s proposed budget cuts, the governor’s own wife is taking those proposals quite seriously…
The Ounce of Prevention Fund, an early-childhood nonprofit headed by first lady of Illinois Diana Rauner, issued statements to the media and supporters this week criticizing cuts proposed by the governor that target the state’s Child Care Assistance Program and Early Intervention programs.
A statement to the media reads, “We are opposed to the many proposed cuts in health, social service and education programs that would directly impact vulnerable children and families and their communities. We will oppose any changes to the Child Care Assistance Program that would adversely affect low-income families.” […]
A spokeswoman for the Ounce says Diana Rauner approved the statement and though she didn’t see the Action Alert, “everything in it reflects the position of the Ounce organization, including our president Diana Rauner.”
The governor’s office declined to talk about any discussion he had with his wife about the budget-cutting plans
Discuss.
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Budget addresses have consequences
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Despite various attempts to downplay the significance of the governor’s proposed budget cuts, the reality is that’s it’s February 20th - meaning the only budget plan we have right now is the governor’s. And since that’s the case, the media will naturally gauge the impact of what the governor wants to do.
Seth Richardson at the SJ-R has an interesting story about the governor’s 50 percent cut in municipal revenue sharing…
In his budget speech, Rauner said the reduction would only account for three percent of local municipalities’ budgets. But Illinois Municipal League legislative director Joe McCoy said every community would feel the pain, but smaller communities might fare worse.
“If a community doesn’t have a very vibrant array of other taxes that they can generate revenue from, then (the Local Government Distributive Fund) becomes that much more important,” McCoy said. “So I think it is a community-by-community issue, and there are a lot of communities that rely much more heavily on LGDF, and those would feel the most impact.”
He said some communities with smaller tax bases and no businesses rely on the fund for 15 percent to 20 percent of their budgets.
The likely outcome, according to several mayors, is the reduction of public safety personnel. [Springfield Mayor Mike Houston] said if Rauner’s decrease passes, the city would have to look at laying off personnel, likely in public safety, which takes up 70 percent of the $118 million total budget.
Cutting budgets is like that old saying about bank robbery: You go where the money is. The local money is in public safety. And the same goes for the state. If you’re not cutting P-12, some very big money is in local government.
* Phil Kadner takes a look at the governor’s claim Wednesday that local governments are sitting on a $15 billion cash pile of reserves…
The governor’s office said the $15 billion estimate of local government reserve funds came from the state comptroller’s office, but that office’s figures total about $18 billion.
Municipalities have roughly $6.5 billion in fund balances, counties have $3.4 billion, townships $894 million, park districts $862 million, fire protection districts $540 million, public library districts around $400 million and special purpose districts $944 million, according to the comptroller’s office.
It said Cook County, the city of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department, the Regional Transportation Authority and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District have a combined $4.4 billion in reserve fund balances. […]
[Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin] said Orland Park has about $20 million in reserve on a $50 million annual operating budget “because we’ve been doing what the state should have been doing all these years” — living within a budget. He said the village has a policy of keeping 20 percent of its operating budget in reserve.
* And in Lake County…
“Instead of fixing the state, he’s coming after local governments,” Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik said Wednesday afternoon. “I’m not happy at all. Gurnee has its house in order — we have a AAA bond rating, no local property tax and exceptional services. I don’t know why he’s decided to pick on us.” […]
“I was very hopeful about the new governor. I’m so disappointed,” she said. “He’s ignoring everything at the state level and coming after the local guys.”
* Riopell…
“Municipalities throughout the state have been pickpocketed for years by Springfield, and now Governor Rauner’s proposal to eliminate 50 percent is akin to armed robbery,” Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns said.
Armed robbery? Pretty strong words for Geneva’s mayor.
* In other budget-cutting news, the Tribune looks at the governor’s proposed $400 million cut to higher education…
The new Republican governor’s move follows a pattern of higher education funding reductions embraced by fellow GOP governors such as Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, a pair of Republicans who like to burnish their bonafides with their political bases. […]
When a variety of restricted funds are added in for categories like research and student housing, [UIUC] operates on an overall $5.6 billion budget.
That’s the figure Rauner’s team prefers to focus upon when looking at public universities as it tries to defuse a bit of the political blowback to the governor’s proposed funding cuts. Through that lens, the cuts are closer to 6 percent of total revenues going to universities.
The Rauner administration also counts general state funds that go into the university pension funds — a number that budget officials estimate is more than $1 billion — along with hundreds of millions more for health care. […]
“They’ve taken hits for a long time,” said Sen. David Luechtefeld, the Republican spokesman on the Senate Higher Education Committee. “I think they’re pretty close to rock bottom.”
* And at NIU…
Northern Illinois University officials are considering reducing staff, restructuring academic programs and pursuing more grants after Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget proposal included a 31 percent cut in NIU’s state funding.
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* Regarding the governor’s proposed Illinois Department of Corrections’ budget increase and sentencing reform…
While increasing staff numbers may be a sensible way to cut back on the cost of overtime, for which employees must be paid 1.5 times their normal salary, it’s not a long-term solution to the systemic problem at hand. IDOC is amidst a budgetary crisis, and will be unable to make payroll by April. To get prison spending under control, the state must incarcerate fewer people. Prison may make sense for violent criminals who pose a threat to public safety. But nearly 70 percent of Illinois’ prison population is serving time for nonviolent offenses. Many would benefit from diversion into drug- and mental-health treatment programs, parole, or other programs that keep families together and allow offenders to continue working instead of costing taxpayers billions each year.
In order to build a fairer and more cost-effective system, the state needs major criminal-justice reforms. The state must strongly consider policies that:
* Reform mandatory minimum sentencing: Repeal laws that set a minimum number of years to serve for an offense, allowing judges to tailor punishments to each crime and individual circumstances.
* Roll back overcriminalization: Reduce laws that criminalize victimless activities and lead to overcrowded prisons, overextended public budgets and police militarization.
* Ease offender re-entry into society: Remove state-imposed barriers, such as occupational-licensing rules, that prevent ex-offenders from finding work and integrating back into society.
If taxpayers want Illinois’ criminal-justice system to prioritize individual rights and fiscal responsibility, lawmakers must reorganize the state’s corrections system to focus on rehabilitation and recovery, not simply punishment and incarceration. Hopefully, Rauner will act with the General Assembly to pass sensible reforms to the state’s justice system.
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Run away! Run away!
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The last thing the Republicans want is a detailed discussion of the proposed cuts in Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget. It’s probably why legislative staff, reporters and others were not thoroughly briefed on the budget plan this week. Cuts are never popular. People generally want the government to cut “waste” and continue doing largely what it has been doing - and everybody’s got a different idea about what waste actually is.
Plus, lots of Republican legislators are beyond nervous about the governor’s proposed cuts. Nerves most definitely need to be calmed.
So…
In a sign that a final state budget plan will look significantly different from what Gov. Bruce Rauner outlined Wednesday, the man expected to deliver Republican votes in the House predicted tough but “delicate” negotiations lie ahead.
In an interview Thursday with the Quad-City Times Springfield Bureau, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, downplayed concerns that Rauner proposed a budget that is not balanced because it relies on $2.2 billion in savings from an overhaul of state employee pensions.
“Everything in that speech is subject to negotiation,” Durkin said […]
Durkin said his goal in the coming weeks will be to find ways to cut state spending within the parameters laid out by Rauner. But he did not commit to following the exact template proposed by the rookie chief executive.
“The governor has indicated he wants to live within a certain revenue number, and how we get there, he’ll be very open to how we do that,” Durkin said. “It’s going to be really delicate, but I think its going to be a very good negotiating year for the caucuses.”
…Adding… The Tribune editorial board has also refused to get into the weeds of the governor’s budget plan, preferring instead to echo Durkin’s comments. So gutsy.
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Rauner’s magic pension beans
Friday, Feb 20, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As I told subscribers yesterday, neither Sen. Biss nor Rep. Nekritz are buying into the validity of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed pension reform plan. Neither of then can figure out how it could save $2.2 billion in the first year and they can’t fathom how the governor can claim it will immediately knock $25 billion off the state’s unfunded pension liability…
“I’m not quite sure I understand the numbers at all. It seemed a little confusing to me,” said [Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston], a Harvard-educated former mathematics professor at the University of Chicago. “I also don’t know how you can possibly bank the savings before you’ve gone to court.” […]
“This, to me, is a return to fuzzy pension math,” [Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook]. “There’s just no way, looking at the proposal, that you protect every retiree and give every worker [the “vast majority” of whom are already ages 45 to 50] the pensions they have earned and say that you are going to knock 25 percent off of the unfunded liability. If you are going to preserve all of that, the math just doesn’t add up.”
She also said that during negotiations on the pension reform bill, some suggested then the idea of moving workers into a 401(k)-style plan.
“Pretty much all of the experts came back and said that that will blow a bigger hole in the pension systems,” she said.
Discuss.
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