45 Comments - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:28 am: Rich, you’re not helping the Raunerbot narrative. They push the idea that cuts haven’t been made prior to Rauner. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:31 am: This is an important post, as many cling to the fiction that there have not been significant budget cuts since 2008. Again, since the governor is claiming his turnaround agenda is an economic one, and not political, and will generate higher economic growth, create jobs and “free up resources,” he needs to show what he assumes the ROI will be in real numbers. What is the end to these reckless and dangerous means he is employing? The payoff must be big. - Anonin' - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:31 am: The real mistake is that these health care professonals allow themselves to be labeled “social service” TeamBungle,Wingman and the cronies they have rented (Butler,Butler) thus believe they run ice cream socials or quilting parties. In reality they treat mental health issues 24-7 Cuts means the folks are headin’ to DOC or county jail. - OneMan - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:34 am: “The Raunerbot narrative” Yeah, that’s some intelligent commentary there. You can’t spend fundamentally what you don’t have unless you want to run up huge unpaid bills. It seems those who like to use the term ‘Raunerbot’ basically say Just raise taxes and governor you don’t get anything you are looking for in your pro-business agenda because everything was working just fine before you got here. That’s basically it right? So if you wan’t taxes to go up to pay for this stuff (and at least this Raunerbot is fine with that) then the governor is going to get something he is looking to do out of it. That is kind of how government works, isn’t it. But as Rich pointed out recently, both sides seem to deem bi-parisanship as take what I am offering. - walker - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:36 am: We have been significantly cutting all state human services funding since 2009. Something that one party likes to completely ignore. Hundreds of programs have disappeared during that period. The surviving service organizations are being funded by individuals and the Feds, and it’s just not enough to sustain the programs that have proven successful in moving people to stable housing. Almost half of homeless are women and children. And more than half the adults are working at least part time for the legal minimum wage. - RNUG - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:37 am: I’m going to flag this /s but I’m not sure some elements aren’t true. If this was one of Rauner’s businesses, I would say the end game is to just destroy the ability of each portion of the business to continue to function and, once that point is reached, to either (a) have such a crisis environment that “business friendly” laws will be passed without proper consideration of the side effects or (b) have a bunch of venture capitalists swoop in and pick up whatever pieces of the State that still have value, i.e., overpriced outsourcing contracts and real estate. - Sue - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:39 am: Rich- it is not the lack of a budget causing state problems. It is the lack of money. Why is everyone focused on the budget - as if implementing a budget solves the Sates fiscal problems. We are in a low growth economic environment,net with the single biggest funding obligation (pensions) growing at a rate which is multiples of the State’s growth rate. Solve the pension issue and you solve the budget. I for one don’t see a 5 percent tax rate as being sufficient to fund the State and pensions. The Supreme Court left Rauner and Madigan with no place to go. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:40 am: – You can’t spend fundamentally what you don’t have unless you want to run up huge unpaid bills.– Good thing that’s not happening right now. - Timmeh - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:40 am: “Just raise taxes and governor you don’t get anything you are looking for in your pro-business agenda because everything was working just fine before you got here.” Has anyone on this board said that, ever? - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:41 am: ===I for one don’t see a 5 percent tax rate as being sufficient to fund the State and pensions=== Yes, you’ve made that clear many times here. But you’re wrong. Read the recent Moody’s report. Not that it’ll do any good with your completely closed mind. Find a new schtick. - Give Me A Break - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:43 am: Right now Psychiatric Leadership Grants are unfunded. Those grants are how mental health centers and other human services providers pay the Docs. who provide evaluations and prescribe meds. Really hard to talk about reducing prison populations and people using the ER for MH care, when the MH system is being taken apart. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:44 am: ===This is an important post, as many cling to the fiction that there have not been significant budget cuts since 2008.=== I can’t rec this highly enough. Walker too. And it’s not just Human Services that’s been cut. Look at Higher Ed. It’s been cut repeatedly for more than a decade. It’s time the Republicans and others acknowledged these facts. - Sue - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:45 am: Rich when we had a 5 percent rate- we still had a structural deficit and that was before looking at increasing pension contributions on the horizon. Going to 3.75 has made matters far worse but 5 does not solve allow continuation of spending at 2014 levels while paying full pension costs which are increasing via the ramp - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:45 am: The lack of a budget is costing the state and other levels of government alot of money in higher costs to borrow due to dropping bond ratings. - Union Dues - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:47 am: Oneman Rauner isnt asking for “something of what he wants” Rauner’s stance is give me everything I want exactly as I want it or you get nothing. Doeant leave much room for negotiation when he states “to compromise is to surrender” - Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:47 am: ==Why is everyone focused on the budget == Yeah, because we shouldn’t be focused on that at all. Certainly not important. /s/ - burbanite - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:49 am: sorry anon 10:45 was me. - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:51 am: ==In FY08 funding for the Homeless Prevention Program was $11 million. In FY15, it was just $4 million.== Anyone pushing the narratives that Rauner has a stone heart in contrast to the ==good== Democrats, or that Democrats only want endless spending in contrast to the ==responsible== Republicans, is absurd. Democrats slashed and burned homeless prevention funding for better or worse. Not Rauner or anyone else. - Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:53 am: ==Not Rauner == Except he also has done it. So a pox on all of their houses. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:00 am: ===Democrats slashed and burned homeless prevention funding for better or worse.=== That’s one way to put it I guess. Another way might be Democrats made the hard choices to balance the budget and make the full pension payment too. - dupage dan - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:08 am: === - RNUG - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:37 am: I’m going to flag this /s but I’m not sure some elements aren’t true. If this was one of Rauner’s businesses, I would say the end game is to just destroy the ability of each portion of the business to continue to function and, once that point is reached, to either (a) have such a crisis environment that “business friendly” laws will be passed without proper consideration of the side effects or (b) have a bunch of venture capitalists swoop in and pick up whatever pieces of the State that still have value, i.e., overpriced outsourcing contracts and real estate === From “The Combine” to “Vulture Capitalism”. Now that is what I call a paradigm shift. - Arizona Bob - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:15 am: =“The prime example is the Vermillion County health department, which had 34 nurses when it responded to the H1N1 pandemic in 2009,” Howe testified at a Senate hearing. “Today, employees only five nurses – of which two of those are part time.”= Ummmm…we don’t have an H1N1 pandemic today. Is his point that we should keep an army of people on the public payroll to fully staff a pandemic emergency when one doesn’t exist? I guess he couldn’t make the case that 5 nurses were insufficient staffing for current demands, which is not unusual for bureacrats. - Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:17 am: ==I guess he couldn’t make the case that 5 nurses were insufficient staffing for current demands, which is not unusual for bureacrats.== Expert on nursing staffing in Vermillion County now I see. Your list of items you are an expert on just keeps growing. - Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:18 am: Also Bob, I believe the point was that they wouldn’t have the staff to respond to another health emergency. If that’s ok with you then just say it. - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:25 am: OneMan, lighten up Francis.. Evidently, you’re associating yourself with being a Raunerbot given the rant. Raunerbots are known for the jingoism and insisting on blaming Democrats for all of the state’s ills. As far as they are concerned, there has been a constant orgy of spending and little in the way of cuts. My point in a snarky way is that there have been efforts to make cuts. Certainly, more needs to be done. As for a governor getting something in exchange for agreeing to raise taxes, nobody reasonable is going to disagree. The problem is that Rauner wants to gut unions as his something. That’s his line in the sand. No budget negotiations until he gets this request. That’s not happening. You know it’s not happening. So we see the result of this intransigence is an unbalanced spending pattern resulting from partial approps, IOUs and court orders. There is a lot of agreement that something needs to be done on workmen’s comp, tort reform and business development. There is also agreement that some changes can be negotiated, but not necessarily the full ask by Rauner. However, they are not getting anywhere until Rauner drops his big ask to gut unions. Now ask yourself this question. If Rauner doesn’t feel that he’s getting enough to justify his support of a tax increase, why doesn’t he take up Cullerton’s request to push reset and submit a balanced budget for the General Assembly to negotiate. - jerry 101 - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:27 am: Keep it up Illinois. There’s always Mississippi! - JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:50 am: =while paying full pension costs which are increasing via the ramp= This is a debt issue, not an annual pension/cost issue. The Annual cost has actually gone down due to: Tier 2, retirements, shrinking number of teachers (I am sure here are other reasons but these are a few). The “ramp” is a debt payment schedule from funds that were “borrowed” from the pension systems to keep the budget balanced (LOL!!) in past years. It was a political solution to the financial problem of avoiding the necessary tax revenue needed to fund services that were desired. BTW- the debt payment is $6 billion. If all other spending was constant, how would our not-a-budget budget look with out the debt payment? - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 11:51 am: ==So a pox on all of their houses.== @Demoralized - Bingo. - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 12:02 pm: It says something very negative about the governor since he has refused to comply with the law requiring the Governor to first submit a balanced budget. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 12:04 pm: The headline here is “In Real Danger of Collapse.” If Gov. Rauner was ever entitled to “get something” for doing his job, that time has now passed. The state doesn’t need to be thrown into chaos to service his sense of entitlement. Unless, that is, he can present a rationale as to why the collapse of mental health and social services in the state is a price worth paying for the benefits of his turnaround agenda. The cost of his strategy can be expressed in hard numbers. The return on that investment needs to be communicated in a like manner. - Judgment Day - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 12:15 pm: “McLean County’s health department administrator Walter Howe…” ———- Having more than a passing familiarity with the operations of the McLean County Public Health Department, I’m not the least bit impressed. Do they do good work? - Yes. Are they efficient in their practices and operations? - Not in the least. Just as a little tiny example, in one section of the health department, they have 6 workers who go out in the field, and for those 6 workers, they have 4 supervisory staff who rarely go out in the field. Yeah, a 1 to 1.5 ratio. Seriously. And that’s the way it’s always been done. - Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 12:55 pm: Word, I don’t think it was ever actually about the Turnaround Agenda. It was about breaking labor. That’s why it’s so quiet. The clock has to run out on the tolling agreement. Then we’ll see Rauner move like a puma on a peacock. He cares not of the poor. He doesn’t even hear about them! He doesn’t read or watch TV. He knows nothing of real life. - thechampaignlife - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:12 pm: I think all these funding issues are going to put pressure on local governments to pick up the slack and start offering their own versions of these services. Many of these funded through property taxes and less efficiently than a coordinated effort serving a larger population. Time will tell how successful Rauner’s fight against property taxes will be. - RNUG - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 1:58 pm: == Time will tell how successful Rauner’s fight against property taxes will be. == I think the only reason Rauner wants to freeze / cap property taxes is that he knows property taxes will have to go up after he finishes gutting the various State payments (sales tax sharing, education funding, shifting normal cost of teachers to local school districts, etc.) to the local government entities. And in related news, I received reassessment notices today for two properties in Capitol Township and, for the first time I can remember, the amount actually went down! Admittedly, only between 0.8% and 1.5%, but it was a reduction. So does that mean the Governor still needs to freeze property taxes? - Dale Cooper - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 2:12 pm: =Word, I don’t think it was ever actually about the Turnaround Agenda. It was about breaking labor. That’s why it’s so quiet.= It was never about a balanced budget either, hence why Rauner included the pension bill’s savings in his budget when he has clearly said on record that he doesn’t believe it will pass because it’s unconstitutional. I think the big difference between him and any previous governor is that he very likely has his own personal staff working 24/7 on new approaches to breaking labor. It never sleeps. - Judgment Day - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 2:32 pm: “And in related news, I received reassessment notices today for two properties in Capitol Township and, for the first time I can remember, the amount actually went down! Admittedly, only between 0.8% and 1.5%, but it was a reduction. So does that mean the Governor still needs to freeze property taxes?” ————– That may sound like good news, but it’s likely not. Here’s why: The ‘multiplers’ (actually, local township equalization factors) are calculated based on a 3 year average - the median (50% point) level of assessment for all sales of non-farm properties. So, if the assessment change notice is for 2015 pay 2016 tax bills, that means your level of assessment based upon that 3 year average of properties that sold (years 2012-2013-2014) was slightly higher than .3333. If 99.2, then .3333 / .9920 = .335988 If 98.5, then .3333 / .9850 = .338376 It functionally means there has been a stagnant market for real estate (probably residential) for 2012-2013-2014 years within Capitol township. Which means if assessments are flat/slightly declining, -and- if you are in a tax capped county, your tax rate is probably going to increase. End result: Your tax bills may actually increase, and there’s very little you can do to challenge tax rates (unless you are a lawyer who specializes in filing tax rate objections, and those are far and few). - Sue - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:31 pm: JS mill- talking about distinctions without a difference- how dense do you think we are. Every dollar going into thevpensions whether as a makeup payment or for current actuarial amounts- it all comes from Statevrevenues not available for other programs. I doubt the taxpayer cares whether the pension payments are for current vs past obligations when it comes out of $$ available for roads, education, healthcare etc etc - Arizona Bob - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 3:46 pm: @DEm =Also Bob, I believe the point was that they wouldn’t have the staff to respond to another health emergency. If that’s ok with you then just say it.= So your point is that EVERY Government agency should have a full time staff capable of dealing with a once in century event? So much for being a “cost/benefit” expert on your part. That would make as much sense as keeping a standing army sufficient to fight WWIII at all times, which would be in excess of 15 million troops. You just can’t do that. I’m not an expert on nurse staffing (even though my wife is one), but I’m pretty good at reading. the point I made is that the spokesperson didn’t make the case that 5 staff wasn’t sufficient to meet current needs. If he could do that, he would’ve instead of comparing today’s staffing to that during a pandemic. Perhaps your responding to my position rather than fabricating one, attributing it to me falsely and criticizing the position you created would make your posts more productive. - Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:10 pm: ==So your point is == Not my point. I believe that is the point they were probably trying to make. ==I’m not an expert on nurse staffing (even though my wife is one)== Did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night too? == rather than fabricating one== Umm, if you can show me where I did that I’ll give you $1 - Norseman - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:19 pm: Demoralized, you try so hard to be reasonable and responsive but you’ve got to learn not to feed the trolls. Just like bullies, trolls just get encouraged when you engage them. A quick delete is all you need to do for trolls. - JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:26 pm: @Sue =how dense do you think we are.= We or you? I don’t know is my answer. =I doubt the taxpayer cares whether the pension payments are for current vs past obligations when it comes out of $$ available for roads, education, healthcare etc etc= The distinctions are important for a variety of reasons. 1) the debt is paying back money “borrowed” so that it was available to other programs. Just exactly how do you think some of those programs were paid for in the past? How about with money that was supposed to go into the pension. You may not think the distinction is important but many taxpayers like me think that it is important. The narrative (this is a D and an R narrative BTW) is that the “pension” needs to be reformed and it is killing Illinois. Poor fiscal policy and an unwillingness to properly fund that which current and past governor’s/legislators wanted ARE the problem. Current annual cost of the pension is $1.6 billion, certainly not a small amount of money by any stretch of the imagination. Debt cost $6 billion. I would say that is an important distinction. Some disagree, but that money is owed to taxpayers. - JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 4:30 pm: =I think the only reason Rauner wants to freeze / cap property taxes is that he knows property taxes will have to go up..= It probably never occurred to him that there might be a political advantage to freezing property taxes. Not. Add to that the fact that it has no impact on state revenue and it is a big win for the governor. I don’t want to be unfair because Madigan and Cullerton love them some property tax freeze too. I guess more people out of work looks like a good economic stimulus plan from both sides of the isle. - Consider this... - Thursday, Sep 10, 15 @ 10:37 pm: The practice of public health is rooted in the work of prevention, with many programs and services designed to proactively avoid or minimize community health crises. Just because there currently exists no active H1N1 outbreak doesn’t meant public health professionals are not hard at work ………preventing such significant events from occurring. - Arizona Bob - Friday, Sep 11, 15 @ 7:57 am: @Dem I see the post where you stated “Bob only wants things to be “average” was deleted, with either by you or by Rich. I’ve never made that claim, but I did measure results and Illinois cost against averages to determine whether Illinois spending, particularly on education, is commensurate with results. You can make the $1 donation to the Illinois Policy Institute(LOL). - Demoralized - Friday, Sep 11, 15 @ 8:25 am: ==I’ve never made that claim== For education? Yeah you have. Multiple times. You have constantly said that you do not believe we should be spending more than average. You want to know the reason I vehemently disagree with you on this? First reason - I don’t particularly have a love for testing. I’d get rid of standardized testing altogether. Don’t think it measures much of anything except whether you are good at taking a test. Perhaps, like you, I’m taking personal experience and extrapolating out a position for an entire system. But my personal experience tells me that standardized testing isn’t a good measure of actual abilities. Moreover, I find standardized testing to be detrimental to actual good teaching. Teachers far too often teach to the test because a great deal of pressure is placed on them to get good scores out of their students. I think I got a much better educational experience when I was in school because my teachers weren’t faced with this problem. Second reason - I don’t believe that reducing spending could in any way make the system better. If you want to argue reform, fine. I disagree with your reforms, but that’s ok. However, reducing spending will make the situation worse, not better. I don’t see how logic dictates otherwise. Why? Because you and I both know that schools are going to cut resources to the classroom. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.