Rauner administration preparing cuts
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration has identified millions of dollars of cuts it will make to the new state budget, including to human services, agriculture programs and transportation.
Even then, the administration says the budget remains $1.5 billion out of balance, which will require further reductions. […]
Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, the lead budget negotiator for House Democrats, said the cuts included $89 million to various human services programs, including autism services, after school programming and immigrant and refugee services.
“He has the authority, I understand that,” Harris said. “If you look at the human service programs, it is the same vulnerable seniors, people with disabilities and children that he has consistently targeted year after year despite the legislature continually trying to restore the funds. Those are his regular targets.” […]
In addition to the human services cuts, the administration outlined $85 million in cuts to the Illinois Department of Transportation, $41 million to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and $21 million to the Department of Agriculture.
* One of the problems is that the governor estimates the deficit to be $1.7 billion, while the GA claims the budget has a $356 million surplus…
* You can click here to read the full analysis, which I obtained this morning. Scroll down for all the cuts. The analysis includes a cover letter from the Senate Democratic staff…
FY18
GOMB estimates an original deficit of $1.7 billion and reduces it to $1.5 billion after initiating programmatic reductions totaling $156 million. There are four major factors driving the estimated budget deficit when compared to the General Assembly’s enacted budget which estimated a surplus of $350 million.
Those factors include:
1. A revenue estimate that is $511 million below the GA estimate
a. Personal income is $250 million less
b. Corporate income is $125 million less
c. Sales tax is $51 million less
d. Other sources total $62 million less
2. GOMB does not account for $500 million in savings associated with Tier III
a. The systems have publicly stated they did not anticipate they would have the new option in
place in order to achieve savings in FY18
3. Debt service costs associated with issuing $6 billion in bonds is estimated at $535 million in FY18
4. Due to the budget being enacted after the start of the fiscal year (enacted on July 6th) some automatic transfers out of GRF into special funds occurred on July 1, adding $234 million to FY18 statutory transfers out.
It’s worth noting that during all spring and summer budget negotiations the various working groups were using the same base revenue estimate. It was only after the FY18 budget was enacted that DOR readjusted their FY18 revenue estimate which lead to a drop in assumed revenues of over $500 million.
* More…
Governor Initiated Savings
GOMB has implemented $156 million in GRF budget reductions. They chose to fully eliminated or reduce various grant programs to reach this savings level. For example, human services grant programs that the governor has repeatedly proposed to eliminate are either eliminated entirely or reduced by at least 5% from the FY17 enacted level. The FY17 enacted level already represented a 3% reduction from the FY15 base level. In some instances the reduction represents over a 66% reduction from the FY18 enacted funding level. There are at least five grant programs that GOMB has decided not to fund in FY18, despite an enacted appropriation for the program.
* Pritzker campaign…
Bruce Rauner is making another round of devastating cuts to crucial state spending on human services, agriculture, and transportation.
Rauner slashed funding for after school programming, autism services, business development and tourism grants, environmental programs, immigrant and refugee services, and para-transit. The latest round of cuts by this failed governor is all too familiar. In 2015, $26 million in funding for many of those same human services was eliminated in the aptly-named “Good Friday Massacre.”
“Bruce Rauner slashing vital programs that help Illinoisans build better lives comes as no surprise for this crisis creatin’ governor,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Bruce Rauner has no moral compass and he is hell-bent on repeating his same destructive mistakes with Illinois families paying the price.”
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:24 pm:
Do Not Fund… Rauner’s new “veto”.
- Chris Widger - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:28 pm:
Messaging-wise, I really think “crisis-creatin’” is a loser.
- Whatever - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:36 pm:
Politically, I think this is a better approach for the governor than using his reduction veto power. If he used the veto to generate the savings, he would not be able to poor-mouth the GA for passing an out-of-balance budget because he was obviously part of it. Here, he can still act like the powerless victim who had this grossly out-of-balance budget foisted on him, and he’s done all he can by cutting some agency costs.
- Honeybear - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:38 pm:
41 million cut to DCEO?
DCEO is charged with economic growth of Illinois
Why would he cut it?
I thought he needed to rev up our economy
Sniff sniff
I smell perfidy
- anon2 - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:38 pm:
=== “He has the authority, I understand that,” === “If you look at the human service programs, it is the same vulnerable seniors, people with disabilities and children that he has consistently targeted year after year ===
Wouldn’t that qualify as “class warfare”?
- Huh? - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:40 pm:
The budget passed by the GA moved $308 million from the GR fund into the Road fund, essentially a huge cut to IDOT. Now another $85 million cut?
- Moist von Lipwig - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:42 pm:
Early in 2015 it was Autism Awareness Month — somebody check the holiday calendar and see who they’re targeting for cuts next!
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:44 pm:
The “Rauner Cuts” will be the side dish to the “Rauner vetoed that” meme.
On one hand, Rauner has a whole budget, less K-12, that Rauner purposely vetoed, that included his own agencies, higher education, even paying bills…
On the other hand, Rauner is now picking “losers” in his mind, using a scalpel to things Rauner will now be choosing, “losers” Rauner already told with a veto “you get nothing… from me”
So Rauner wants to own the damage attributed to cuts to the budget that saved Illinois?
Wow.
- Responsa - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:54 pm:
Are there some cuts that can be named that would feel “less” perfidious? If we’rein the mode of horse trading because we have to–because there is clearly not enough money to fund everything–what would those cuts be?
- Publius - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:55 pm:
Anon2:
It’s only class warfare when the poor and middle class ask for raises and to share is prosperity
- Publius - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 12:59 pm:
Is this another state museum trick? Rauner shuts it down then reopens it like he saved the day.
He will announce all these cuts and then restore them as if the legislature had made the cuts making Rauner the hero
- DSKid - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:00 pm:
Que another tax hike, please.
- Structurally Imbalanced - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:09 pm:
To those who are criticizing these cuts, where do YOU propose to cut. I don’t like the Rauners, but the people of IL wanted to borrow instead of paying an appropriate tax level.
Rauners move, while brutal, reflects the will of the people.
Now I understand why he didn’t identify cuts to his critics in legislative hearings earlier.
- thechampaignlife - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:11 pm:
Over half the difference is from pension and debt service. How are those debatable? Is there not a known level? Also, if that debt service includes interest payments on overdue bills, much of that is Rauner’s making.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:11 pm:
===To those who are criticizing these cuts, where do YOU propose to cut===
I didn’t run for governor. Comes with the Big Chair.
Rauber is now a victim to his oath?
===Now I understand why he didn’t identify cuts to his critics in legislative hearings earlier.===
Yep. They’re called the Rauner Cuts because he’s the one making them.
That’s how this all works. Same as it always was. This ain’t new to Rauner or to the Office.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:30 pm:
===To those who are criticizing these cuts, where do YOU propose to cut===
How about we start with the hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money the governor is hiding in agency budgets to employ friends of his like Leslie Munger? That’d be a good place to start.
==Rauners move, while brutal, reflects the will of the people.==
Cutting funds for programs assisting children with autism is “the will of the people”? What kind of people do you hang out with? Are they congressional freedom caucus members? I don’t remember anyone during the 2014 election saying “You know who gets too much funding - autistic kids”
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:31 pm:
===That’s how this all works. Same as it always was.===
Yep. Hard choices get criticized. If you think you can change the rules of thousands of years of human history, have at it. You’re gonna fail.
- FLEA - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 1:39 pm:
the cuts at AG for SWCD’s and County Fairs are long overdue. Just sayin.
- John Herath - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 2:26 pm:
$21 million from Department of Ag? How? GRF is only $19 million after years of cuts.
- Anon - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 2:41 pm:
Pensions and Debt service are eating up 25% of the state’s total revenue, and that number is only going to surge higher in the next few decades.
We are essentially running a state the size of Illinois on $27 billion dollars, which is just nuts.
Taxes are going way way up in the not to distant future seeing that.
No state can function properly handing over 1 of every 4 dollars collected (and will be higher soon) before educating a child, social services, police or any of that and ever hope to keep their head above water.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 2:43 pm:
FLEA- Please explain your position. Do you know what SWCDs do to support NRCS and FSA programming??? Have you ever participated in a county fair??? Or, is your comment a drive by???
- Whatever - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
==Now I understand why he didn’t identify cuts to his critics in legislative hearings earlier.==
Didn’t he say he could take the arrows? And that he could balance the budget without raising taxes? Now he can’t or won’t come up with enough cuts to balance the budget after a tax increase. Was he lying about the budget or is he just afraid to take the arrows?
- illini - Wednesday, Oct 18, 17 @ 3:47 pm:
So $324 million is being cut from K-12 and Higher Ed?
Priorities?