* Press release…
Illinois’ estimated bill backlog has increased from $13.3 billion to a record $14.3 billion. The jump reflects more than $1 billion in liabilities held at state agencies that the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget reported to the Comptroller’s office this week. This new information brings the estimated total of bills held at agencies to $6.6 billion.
The state’s bill backlog is nearing the point of having tripled in just the past two years, making it all the more pressing that policymakers receive timely reporting of the consequences of not having a budget — at a growing cost to taxpayers. This week’s $1 billion bill dump from Governor Rauner’s office makes evident the need for agencies to regularly report liabilities to the Comptroller’s office including the late interest penalties associated with these outstanding bills. This increase is due to a reported increase of bills for medical, corrections, state group health insurance, human services and other state agencies.
“It’s clear the Rauner Administration has been holding bills at state agencies in an attempt to mask some of the damage caused by the Governor’s failure to fulfill his constitutional duty and present a balanced budget. At a time when Senators from both sides of the aisle are working together to reach a deal, this administration has been keeping them in the dark about the true extent of the bill backlog,” Comptroller Susana Mendoza said. “This action makes obvious the urgent need for more sunlight on the state’s bill backlog. It’s time for a full accounting of what the state owes to schools, social service organizations, health care providers, vendors, small business owners and others across the state.”
The Rauner administration has been exposed for holding bills at state agencies for as long as a year, and then falsely claiming to the media that the Comptroller’s office hasn’t prioritized payments of those bills.
Legislation initiated by Comptroller Mendoza known as the Debt Transparency Act (House Bill 3649) calls for more accountability from state agencies on Illinois’ bill backlog. It would require agencies to report monthly to the Comptroller the bills they are holding and estimate the amount of late interest penalties that will be paid on those bills. The Comptroller’s office projects that Illinois will owe at least $800 million in Late Payment Interest Penalties on its overdue bills by the end of the current fiscal year. But without accurate information from state agencies on what is owed, it’s nearly impossible to precisely report interest charges.
“Clearly policymakers and taxpayers need to be fully aware of the rising costs taxpayers are on the hook for and that must be accounted for in a budget,” Comptroller Mendoza said.
Representative Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, and Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, sponsored HB 3649, which passed in the House with bipartisan backing last month. Comptroller Mendoza is calling on the Senate to approve HB 3649 and on the Governor to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.
Current state law only requires agencies to report on Oct. 1 of each year the aggregate amount of bills being held on the previous June 30. The information is outdated by the time it is received, Mendoza said. But the agencies already have the personnel and infrastructure in place to compile the data.
Setting aside her rhetoric, the current state law is completely outmoded. This really needs to change.
- cdog - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 9:52 am:
The Vouchergate saga continues.
Heck of a way to run the public’s business. Smh.
- Flip357 - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 9:54 am:
I know not of public financial policy, and only a passing knowledge of investments, so, would it be possible to short the Illinois bond market?
- Valvino - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 9:55 am:
Great job Bruce, you have really turned things around for the better.
- Chicago_Downstater - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:00 am:
Rauner would veto this, right? The excuse being that this bill would create additional inefficient paperwork leading to additional costs to the taxpayers.
*Begin Heavy Snark* After all, he just has the best interests of the taxpayers at heart, amirite? *End Heavy Snark*
In all seriousness, this bill seems to create a much better system for accountability & I’m all for that.
- walker - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:06 am:
Backlog tripled in two years. Even without an operating budget, and with court orders, that is quite a feat of horrible management.
Love to dive into the numbers and processes that produced such a disaster, but my heart probably couldn’t take it.
- cdog - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:07 am:
Looks like HB3649 is moving through the swamp quickly. Third reading, today. Will it be veto proof? Let’s hope so, goodness.
Rauner’s agencies must have read some tea leaves to kick out a billion dollars in bills….
- Cassandra - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:08 am:
The transparency act sounds like a good idea. It will make it easier for reporters to write their stories on the state budget of the hour, for example. Kids can use it to write term papers. And transparency is always a valuable goal for government.
But will anything change. We’ve been reading these
state debt headlines for many months, yet the state keeps chugging along. Not too surprising that many citizens probably turn their (digital) pages when they see another Illinois state debt headline.
- J IL - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:08 am:
The Republican press conference was complete BS. Really, a “few last minute details” are going to derail this? My question is how do these people make these statements with a straight face? A few last minute details and very close mine as well mean the same thing as infinitely apart.
- Quid Pro Quo - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:08 am:
I’m so old, I remember when lawmakers thought $8 billion in unpaid bills was alarming.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:26 am:
Is this what looking out for taxpayers looks like?
Or when we elect a businessman to run the government? (If so we need to call an emergency board meeting)
- Montrose - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:31 am:
This is yet another reminder that no one “grand compromise” is going to completely fix this mess. It is going to take years of work to get us back to a healthy place.
- illini - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:51 am:
So if we add the backlog of unpaid bills ( $14.3 Billion ) with the bills being held at agencies ( $6.6 Billion ) that comes to almost $21 Billion.
And add to that the $800 Million in Late Payment Interest Penalties and we are approaching $22 Billion.
If memory serves me correct, Pat Quinn had the backlog down to less than $5 Billion when he left office and the bills were being paid in about 30 days.
What am I missing or where am I wrong?
- Earnest - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:54 am:
Holding onto the vouchers is nothing new. It is the kind of thing that is status quo that would be good for Rauner to change. Holding the vouchers and blaming the comptroller seems to be new. That’s just politics-as-usual, which would be another thing that would be nice to see changed.
- Honeybear - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:59 am:
Cassandra. We totally agree transparency is always good. We are in reality so much more screwed than people understand or know. But getting it into the sunlight is so important.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:11 am:
- JohnK -
That must’ve felt great to type!
By nearly every measure, Illimois is worse off since Bruce Rauner…
===It will be fun watching Ill-annoy implode from afar.===
Safe travels.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:14 am:
- illini -
What you are missing is the legislators have not aaproriated the fubds the state has coolected over the past few years to pay some of these invoices. What you are missing is the legislator instead passes more laws no one can afford. Rather than doing what the gov was elected to do, Reduce costs for every one.
SO Ruaner will veto it because they have not heard his message he has continued to state since he was elected to do. Betterment for all, Gov costs reduction, enable jobs, and improve jobs and education. Because the only way out of poverty is an education.
- cdog - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:17 am:
Illini, I thought the math worked like that, until I was enlightened here at CapFax.
On the Ledger, at the IL Comptroller website, this is what appears–
$14,335,702,773.00
GENERAL FUNDS PAYABLES BACKLOG
The backlog includes what is currently at the Comptroller’s Office and the estimated $6.6 billion with state agencies.
172,757 VOUCHERS BACKLOGGED
Includes vouchers and transfers to other state funds.
So there is an opaque estimate of the bills held at the agency level. This HB3649 would keep MOAB from dropping out of the sky onto the heads of the Illinois citizens.
(tough gig for the folks that have to play along with this charade/shell game way of doing business.)
- Anonymous - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:17 am:
So while the students boo him at commencement, remind them their prior educators are pulling down, hundreds of thousands in pensions you and I and they pay for, instead of reducing their education costs. Which in turn means they have mortgages at 24 years old, and no ability to buy housing, which traditionally also grows the economy.
- Ron - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:19 am:
Anonymous, Illinois needs to be like New Hampshire, where state reps make $200/elected term.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:21 am:
===Which in turn means they have mortgages at 24 years old, and no ability to buy housing…===
“Mortgages! Because… pensions!”
If you’re 24 and you qualify for a mortgage, real estate taxes included, how in any way is the liability of pensions even at play?
You qualify. You have the mortgage. Pensions aren’t disqualifying anyone.
“You won’t qualify you fit a mortgage. State pensions.”
Ugh
- Winnin' - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:33 am:
The judge who allowed the state to spend willy nilly without an appropriation is culpable in this along with Rauner and AFSCME.
Keep spending without a budget — a recipe for financial disaster.
This was the worst worst decision, the worst abrogation of constitutional law, in Illinois history.
Not only do employees show up at work to spend money the state doesn’t have, the bills are piling up at a record pace.
Thanks Bruce.
- illini - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 11:45 am:
Thanks @cdog. I was taking a break from my yard work and didn’t stop to think this through before I wrote. I knew better. First mistake I made this week!
So that amount includes the over $750 Million in past due monies my Alma Mater was promised?
- cdog - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 12:17 pm:
Illini, not sure on that, and not sure if there is a click into the detail of the $7.7B at comptroller, and the $6.6B at the agencies.
(Of the two numbers above, the $6.6B at the agencies is mind-blowing. It should cause every GOP member of the Legislature to have a physiological reaction. $6.6B, and possibly more tomorrow morning, at the agency level. Do they really think their leader’s strategy has been effective? They have given asymmetrical power to a man of questionable intentions. Good heavens.)
- Langhorne - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 12:30 pm:
Moving the goal posts?
Or just discovering the posts have moved?
- wordslinger - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 12:33 pm:
–Backlog tripled in two years. Even without an operating budget, and with court orders, that is quite a feat of horrible management.–
No, that is the squeeze-the-beast plan in action.
The nearly $9B increase in the GRF backlog during Rauner’s tenure means it will be politically impossible to restore social services and higher ed to their FY15 levels.
Unless you think Rauner is a special kind of stupid, that has been the objective all along.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 12:35 pm:
–The Rauner administration has been exposed for holding bills at state agencies for as long as a year, and then falsely claiming to the media that the Comptroller’s office hasn’t prioritized payments of those bills.–
Frat Boy fun. Way to earn those six-figure salaries, brosephs!
What part of that is not misanthropic and cynical?
- Newsclown - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 12:41 pm:
You can explain the Rauner theory of how to run a Government by reviewing this clip from “Batman”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkkfuSizc4
“I’m only burning my half”.
- don the legend - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 12:51 pm:
More proof that Rauner does not want a deal. Keep the problems growing, blame Madigan and the corrupt system. It’s the only way he can run again and have any hope of winning, ooops I mean getting reelected. He already says he’s winning.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 1:19 pm:
Part of the reason bills are being held is because there is no appropriation to pay them. I think some people think no appropriation means bills aren’t still being accumulated.
- Louis Capricious - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 1:39 pm:
=== a man of questionable intentions ===
As Wordslinger has noted ad nauseam, his intentions are abundantly clear. The carnage underway is the plan - not some byproduct of his inability to implement his plan.
- Triple play - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 2:18 pm:
“The state’s bill backlog is nearing the point of having tripled in just the past two years”
Just like thgovernor’s income. Hmmm I guess the laws of physics apply. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- RNUG - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 3:08 pm:
== Or when we elect a businessman to run the government? ==
Illinois’ mistake was electing a vulture capitalist. They would have been better off with an actual businessman.
- RNUG - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
With no appropriations or spending authority to enter into new contracts, I’d like to know how much of that $14B was LEGALLY incurred and obligated?
- walker - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 3:11 pm:
Wordslinger makes his case for Rauner’s intentions, based on outcomes, and an assumption of competency.
Hard to argue with either of those factors, or his logic.
My question is a little more detailed: How could Rauner make the payables explode so quickly, unless he is deliberately spending more than he must in certain areas. It just doesn’t add up that this amount is entirely the result of no budget, no tax increase, no governing, and passivity. Is he taking additional steps to expand the payables, to build on the crisis?
- RNUG - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 3:18 pm:
It’s easy to make the backlog go up when you just DoIT!
- Get a Job!! - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 3:32 pm:
The Comptroller really needs to determine how long these invoices have been at the agency & calculate the Prompt Pay Interest created by the Governor’s Office putting a hold on these bills. Let’s assume that the Governor’s Office has been holding these for only 1 month, that’s $10 million in taxpayer dollars wasted. I’d guess that many of these bills are much older than 1 month.
- Nikolas Name - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 3:56 pm:
Ol’ Brucie and his decision to not even compromise is making Pat Quinn look more and more like a hero.
- Property of IDOC - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 8:55 pm:
Highly unethical and blatantly immoral. How can this INTENTIONAL CRIPPLING of the state not be illegal?? Surely the oath of office stands for something, and encompasses a smidgen of accountability???
- RNUG - Wednesday, May 17, 17 @ 10:15 pm:
== Surely the oath of office stands for something, and encompasses a smidgen of accountability??? ==
Other than public pressure, the other two recourses require BOTH parties and BOTH chambers in the General Assembly to agree to take action and put some votes on it. With one party bought and paid for, not going to get the GA to act.
So you are back to public pressure ..
and so far the only consistent source of public pressure has been the threat of K-12 schools not opening.