* From March 7th…
Rauner said by refusing reforms and pushing for a tax hike, Madigan, the chair of the Illinois Democratic Party, is holding up money that could be used to fund universities and MAP grants.
“Madigan’s holding us hostage; he’s holding EIU hostage,” Rauner said. “The money is there for MAP grants, and the money is there to fund universities so there would have to be no layoffs. Madigan won’t allow it.”
Rauner said the state has $160 million “sitting there idle” and “gathering dust” in the form of special purpose funds that could be used to fund universities such as Eastern.
* So what’s going on with this “idle” money “gathering dust” in special funds that the governor talked about? From an SJ-R op-ed by an Eastern Illinois University associate professor of journalism…
FundEIU notes that money is in the Education Assistance Fund. Estimates are the fund has around $240 million stashed away at the moment.
* We talked about this fund before when a group of Senate Democrats proposed tapping it for $25 million to help Chicago State. From the Voices for Illinois Children explanation…
Budget Basics
The total state budget is comprised of over 700 funds from which appropriations are made. Each fund’s name corresponds with either the purpose of the appropriation or the major source of the fund’s receipts. Individual funds are grouped into larger fund categories, which include the General Funds, Highway Funds, Special State Funds, and Federal Trust Funds.
General Funds
The General Funds include the General Revenue Fund, the Common School Fund, and the Education Assistance Fund. The General Revenue Fund receives most of its revenue from income taxes, sales taxes, and various other state taxes and fees. The Common School Fund gets revenue from sales taxes, cigarette taxes, the state lottery, riverboat gambling, and bingo game receipts. These funds are used to support elementary and secondary education, including the State Board of Education and the Teachers’ Retirement System. The Education Assistance Fund, which is used for both elementary-secondary and higher education, receives a share of income tax revenue as well as proceeds from riverboat gambling.
Emphasis added.
* From FundEIU…
* The governor’s office, however, disagrees. The $160 million figure, they say, didn’t refer to any specific fund. Instead, Rauner was referencing $160 million in a bill sponsored by Reps. Ken Dunkin and Reggie Phillips that was part of the forgiveness of $454 million in previous interfund borrowing.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 10:50 am:
===“Madigan’s holding us hostage; he’s holding EIU hostage,” Rauner said.===
Wow. Such an absolute brazen lie. I wonder if there are more than 5% of voters that believe that garbage…?
- illinois manufacturer - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 10:55 am:
No one just Sandak the the Tribune trolls. Didn’t Madigan promise he would not let the state suffer through another Blago like nightmare or is my memory off.
- East Central Illinois - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 10:59 am:
In addition, the only time that Reggie Phillips has voted in support of EIU and higher ed funding was on the Dunkin/Phillips bill. That is the only time, all other votes have been NO.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:01 am:
So, is the Governor’s Office saying Madugan needs to release monies that they, the Governor’s Office doesn’t actually recognize as untethered cash?
Huh?
- ash - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:03 am:
EAF balance is close to $300,00,000 today ($291,000,000). While the governor vetoes bills that could provide funding, the money is literally sitting there.
- Jerry's Pizza - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:04 am:
Hey, We’ve got “Flamethrower” on the jukebox. Reggie is busy these days. How does he do it all? What is his net worth now? How elite are you now, Reggie? Maybe the governor will buy your businesses. They aren’t worth much now.
- Federalist - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:05 am:
A group of Chicago Democrats proposed tapping $25 million of this fund for Chicago State.
Are there any other universities in the state? This is how downstate Republicans use the Chicago Democrat Card- and for good reason.
This is basically a side show issue for the lack of a budget going forward. While I believe that Rauner is the biggest culprit in this fiscal farce, Madigan does not cover himself with a Mr. Smith goes to Washington aura either.
- Hostage - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:07 am:
FundEIU’s information about the fund is correct and has been confirmed by the comptroller’s office. SB 2046, passed yesterday, designates the EAF as funding mechanism for public universities as they have been funded since 1990. The current balance is enough to fund 7 EIUs immediately. Legislators claiming that there is no money and no funding mechanism are either uninformed or lying; they should call the comptroller’s office and get information about the EAF.
You can look up the current cash balance of the Education Assistance Fund here (click Fiscal Condition then FundSearch):
http://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.com/Ledger/?LinkServID=90D17A44-CB6B-77A6-D4DC314B32575620#fldFund
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:08 am:
Why do we have a whiny powerless governor? Please someone tell him that citizens don’t want a governor who continually reminds us that he is impotent and a victim.
He has been governor long enough to have learned this important part of governing.
He is embarrassing himself and his supporters with this kind of behavior.
MJM isn’t governor and being governor isn’t being powerless. John Wayne’s ghost is telling you to man up!
- cdog - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:09 am:
So SB2046 has some real funding and is sitting on the Gov’s desk.
A quick search of the pdf copy for “education” in SB2046, shows that every university, and IMSA, etc., would be appropriated to receive some of the $300m in the EAF account.
Munger would have the tough job of deciding who gets what.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:11 am:
===“The money is there for MAP grants, and the money is there to fund universities so there would have to be no layoffs. Madigan won’t allow it.”===
Let’s see: $160 million can cover roughly half of the MAP grants already promised to students this year. That means half of these students would still be out of luck, and that would leave anything left for the public universities.
Was the Governor laughing when he said that?
- Norseman - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:17 am:
VM, Rauner is trying to do the proverbial keep his cake and eating it to. Rauner is not impotent. If he was, there would be no impasse. The whiny routine is his attempt to insulate himself from the impasse fallout.
- Vole - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:29 am:
What we have here with Rauner is a classic example of projection. (not the first time by any measure!)
“Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against their own unpleasant impulses by denying their existence while attributing them to others.[1] For example, a person who is habitually rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude. It can take the form of blame shifting.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
- Jimmy H - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:30 am:
Rauner is so disconnected mentally and monetarily, none of this matters to him.
- @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:33 am:
“John Wayne’s ghost is telling you to man up!”
On the other hand, John Wayne Gacy’s ghost admires your social agenda.
– MrJM
- Demoralized - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:34 am:
You cannot simply look at a balance in a special fund and conclude that it is “idle” money that is available. Unless you know the expenses that are to be charged against that fund and get a fund analysis that shows the true “idle” balance after accounting for those expenses then you don’t have a true picture. It would be the equivalent of looking at your checking account balance and saying that all that money is “idle” when in fact you have expenses that need to come out of that existing balance.
There are “idle” funds available. You cannot determine those amounts by simply looking at the fund balance.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:35 am:
Either I’ve got a browser column or my comments are held a lot. Hopefully the comment I just made will show up.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:36 am:
Browser “problem”
- Jimmy H - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:40 am:
- @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:33 am:
So funny, So frighteningly accurate though.
- G'Kar - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:41 am:
Let me see if I have this correct (seriously, no snark). The EAF is one of the prime budget sources to pay for higher education. Money accumulates in the fund automatically because of law. The budget that was passed in 2015 would have used EAF funds to pay for higher education. Rauner vetoed the higher education budget. Now he is complaining there is money in an account not being spent because he vetoed the appropriation.
- ash - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:45 am:
@demoralized. You are correct, but people analyzing this fund have checked with the comptroller’s office. There is not this huge amount of unpaid vouchers with claims to this fund. The balance is so high because there are not the usual claims (like paying for universities).
- This - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:46 am:
Fund Analysis (all this is verifiable): Almost all bills for the fiscal year have been paid from the EAF already except for Higher Ed, because universities have not received their appropriation yet. As long as universities are not put in line for the EAF, they will not receive any of the fund’s money, which has been put aside to fund them. The EAF is also not a special fund. It is one of four general funds, and it can only pay for public education.
- Verifier - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:54 am:
@G’Kar You have this correct!
- Cassandra - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 11:59 am:
Those of us out here in the middle class waiting to see how much the government is going to take out of our nearly empty pockets this time would like the idle funds to be spent and our pockets to be spared. Many of our political masters would like to pretend their are no idle funds thus justifying another money grab. But not a money grab from the wealthy. Never, never from the wealthy. They are untouchable.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:05 pm:
Demoralized. EAF has an approp for Teacher Retirement left to pay for a total of 109M but it has already paid over 90M of that. It has paid all of the 401M to ISBE (the bumped up amount over FY15) too. It has a few million left to pay for Math and Science Academy. Past that, it is pretty much all universities left.
So yes, it is idle money. And since the fund directly fills up with 7.3% of income and corp taxes by law… guess what time of year it is and which fund is about to get more money?
http://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.gov/index.cfm/find-an-expense/by-fund/?FundSel=0007&FundGrpSel=0&FundCatSel=0&FundTypeSel=0&GroupBy=Agcy&FY=16&Type=B&ShowMo=Yes&ShowBudg=Yes&submitted=
- Bryan - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:07 pm:
Thanks for the followup, Rich. And to the intelligent commenters who have added to the story as well. Meanwhile, we’re all out here waiting still.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:08 pm:
–Wow. Such an absolute brazen lie.–
The State of Illinois has made an appropriation for higher ed every year since ISU opened in 1857.Through Civil War, recesssions, Depression…
What’s different about this year?
The governor routinely displays absolute contempt for the intelligence of the citizenry.
- cdog - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:18 pm:
Cassandra, your middle class thoughts are shared by many. The coffee talk in my house today, went in the direction of what kind of Illinois tax policy can truly affect the Illinois economy.
It is simple. Put the money in the hands of the people who will spend it. We live in a consumer economy but a huge percentage of the consumers have no disposable income to spend consuming things.
In a hyperbolic application, what if there was no tax on income up to 200% of FPL? Those folks, lower middle class, would spend it.
A fair and graduated income tax is the STRUCTURAL REFORM that Illinois needs.
- thechampaignlife - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:42 pm:
A bit off topic, more relevant to one of yesterday’s posts but…
Rauner says he can cut spending without GA. True, but only for agencies that report to him. Maybe it is time to reorg the agencies to report to the SOS, Treasurer, Comptroller, AG…anyone but him!
- Cassandra - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:43 pm:
Unfortunately, neither Rauner nor Madigan appears to understand the effects of a highly regressive income tax on middle class citizens, especially in an era of extreme income inequality and rising costs for decent housing, medical care, and education. Unlike many on this blog, I don’t believe either man is the epitome of evil. Both are extremely wealthy men, and I think they genuinely don’t get income inequality, the extreme economic pressures on the middle class, and the regressive nature of Illinois’ tax system. Why would either care. It’s not the world either lives in, that of the extremely wealthy and powerful. From their perspective, what are we peasants whining about?
- Demoralized - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 12:43 pm:
Thank you to all who have responded to me and who have provided analysis of the EAF. It’s exactly the kind of thought process I was talking about. I wasn’t speaking about the EAF in particular but about the concept of “idle” funds in general. I just want people to be aware that it’s not as simple as looking at a balance.
- CapnCrunch - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 1:12 pm:
“In a hyperbolic application, what if there was no tax on income up to 200% of FPL? Those folks, lower middle class, would spend it. A fair and graduated income tax is the STRUCTURAL REFORM that Illinois”
I think you have grossly exaggerated the situation.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 1:48 pm:
==Both are extremely wealthy men == in an era of extreme income inequality and rising costs for decent housing, medical care, and education==
@Cassandra - well said. The only pain they seem to understand is pain at the polls, which is trivial in comparison to the pain many others are going through now.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 3:43 pm:
Hey Demo, I’ve been having a problem with a comment not immediately posting from my iPad. They usually show up in a few minutes like yours did
To the Post-Thanks to Anon 12:05 in particular for giving us the needed information re: the “available balance” in the EAF.
FWIW, that $109m for TRS is the State’s matching contribution for the retiree health care program which Rauner proposes to zero out in FY17. Any cash balance left there equals more delays in paying medical providers, which the Raunerbots clearly ain’t too worried about.
To the extent there is real available cash in the Fund, I would support the bulk of the balance going to MAP grants and then to Unis based on need. I don’t think CSU should get $30 million off the top.
- This - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 4:00 pm:
@Arthur I believe that MAP cannot be funded from the EAF. I agree that the cash balance should be distributed to universities immediately based on need (struggling first); then all should be placed in their short EAF line to receive money as it keeps coming in. If they paired higher ed appropriations with procurement reform (based on Gov.’s own logic about that reform) they could fund most universities now.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 4:14 pm:
This, I was unaware of that constraint. A fund transfer in the enabling legislation could potentially address the issue.
I’m all for fixing the problems with State purchasing. I don’t think the Governor has the right solution yet nor the votes to pass his proposal. We also can’t start counting those savings, whatever they may be, until they actually are realized.
- Norseman - Thursday, Apr 14, 16 @ 5:10 pm:
I’m with AA in supporting fixes for State purchasing. However, I don’t know enough about all the procurement rules and Rauner’s proposal to make an informed judgment.
I will say that based on Rauner’s track record, I don’t trust the proposal will be in the best interest of the taxpayers by ensuring the lowest cost items are purchased and the process is fair and protected from fraud and abuse.
I would hope that the proposal is thoroughly studied and not passed simply to use it’s alleged savings as an offset to support an appropriation bill(s).