* A bit late on this, but here’s an excerpt from COGFA’s latest monthly report…

Through the first half of FY 2022, overall base receipts are up $918 million. When removing the federal dollars from the equation, receipts are up a strong $1.266 billion. This growth is even more impressive when factoring in the remarkable performance of income tax receipts this fiscal year. In the first six months, income tax receipts are up a combined $266 million. As detailed in earlier briefings, what makes this increase so impressive is that the revenue totals of FY 2022 are compared to FY 2021 receipts that benefitted from last year’s final payment delay, valued at approximately $1.3 billion. Net sales tax also continues to perform well, now up $643 million through the first six months of the fiscal year. All other sources are trailing last year’s levels by a combined $40 million.

Overall transfers are ahead of last year’s pace by $397 million through the first half of the fiscal year. Those gains reflect strong miscellaneous transfers, particularly from the Capital Projects Fund, as well as the return of riverboat transfers. After performing quite well through much of the fiscal year, Federal sources are now down $348 million after factoring in the December 2020 activity, as discussed above.

* Meanwhile, the comptroller is announcing a new weekly report. Here’s the first one…

An average bill payment cycle of just 13.2 working days is just such a foreign concept to this longtime Illinoisan. Wow.

* Press release…

Today, Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza unveiled a new weekly report that shares key financial data with the public.

“This continues and builds upon my transparency revolution,” said Comptroller Mendoza. “Illinois taxpayers and businesses that work with the state deserve to have easy access to these numbers, which reflect how government is operating and managing their hard-earned tax dollars.”

Each week an updated graphic will be shared via Comptroller Mendoza’s social media accounts. It will highlight the following:

• The General Funds bill backlog. Under Comptroller Mendoza, the bill backlog has shrunk nearly 75%, from $16.7 billion during the worst of the 2015-2017 budget impasse to less than $4.4 billion at the end of the day Tuesday, without using federal stimulus funds. The measure is a snapshot in time, subject to daily fluctuations as bills land at the Comptroller’s office and are paid out.
• The General Funds bill payment cycle. This is a key data point the Office of Comptroller focuses on. Included in the devastation of the budget impasse, some vouchers languished for more than 200 working days. Now, bills are being paid on time, well within the regular 30-day window, the fastest payment cycle for the Comptroller’s office in over 20 years.
• Rainy Day Fund. The state’s savings fund, frankly, leaves much to be desired. That’s why the Comptroller is championing House Bill 4118 that would bolster the fund when the backlog of bills is below $3 billion. For now, the fund includes enough savings to keep the state running for a little more than an hour. That’s not much, but it’s up from less than 30 seconds a year ago.
• Unfunded pension liabilities. This number reported by the state’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, based on the market value of assets, reflects the additional amount that would be needed to pay all retirement benefits earned by employees. While the Comptroller’s Office does not determine how pensions are funded, this number is an important piece of the state’s overall fiscal health.
• Aggregate funded ratio of pension liabilities. This shows the aggregate percentage at which the State’s five pension systems are funded as of the end of the most recent fiscal year.

The bill backlog and bill payment cycle numbers will be updated weekly. The Rainy Day Fund numbers will be updated monthly. The pension numbers will be included in the weekly graphic and updated on an annual basis, based on the release of government reports. Anyone can keep up to date with the numbers by checking the Comptroller’s social media accounts, Facebook and Twitter. Further information is available at illinoiscomptroller.gov.

“Transparency breeds accountability. That is why it’s important to consistently keep these numbers in the public eye,” said Comptroller Mendoza.

…Adding… Rockford’s new temporary casino is taking off…

Rockford casino nets $8.4M in first two months of being open […]

In the months of November and December, the casino netted $8,467,105.01 in revenue, according to the Illinois Gaming Board. The temporary casino generated $4,145,967.91 in revenue in the first 22 days it was open.

The temporary casino must pay $1,008,722.48 in state taxes and pay $504,361.28 in local taxes, according to IGB documents.

       

26 Comments - Arsenal - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 9:39 am: ==An average bill payment cycle of just 13.2 working days is just such a foreign concept to this longtime Illinoisan.== It’s basically immediate, since almost every bill specifies that it must be paid within 30 days. - Huh? - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 9:42 am: “An average bill payment cycle of just 13.2 working days” Certainly saves on the required 12% interest for bills over 30 days. - Back to the Future - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 9:47 am: Any way you look at this - - it is really good news. Nice to hear some good news about the State. - PublicServant - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 9:53 am: Waiting on the Republicans comments on this good news. IPI, where are you? Center Square has nothing to say? Bailey? Griffy? - Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 9:59 am: - 13.2 working days is just such a foreign concept to this longtime Illinoisan. - It’s a completely foreign concept in the private business world as well. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:01 am: The goal of the phonies like Wirepoints, Proft, Kass… It’s never honesty to good or even bad, it’s the grift. You won’t hear from anyone if that ilk because they need to find how to grift off even good news. Why comment? It doesn’t help in the grifting. To me, yeah, it’s B, but its mostly a marker that reminds folks, not an end all, be all, or the bigger message. It can’t be. It’s not the knockout winner. - Arsenal - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:05 am: ==IPI, where are you? Center Square has nothing to say? Bailey? Griffy? == There’s just not much energy for those kindsa guys right now. It’s all either primal scream culture war stuff (Bailey) or weirdo personal vendettas (Griffin). - don the legend - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:10 am: Does the casino know and if so, report, where the gamblers live who so generously paid $504,361.28 in local taxes? - Pundent - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:19 am: =It’s a completely foreign concept in the private business world as well.= Net 45 and even net 90 are standard concepts for most private businesses these days. Paying bills in 13 days is virtually unheard of. Something to remember the next time we hear that government needs to be run like a business. - DuPage - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:20 am: Has the state made a concerted effort to go after federal “matching funds”? During the Rauner administration, road projects were canceled to save state money, but that caused substantial federal highway funds for canceled projects to be lost. We ended up no way to pay for rebuilding of roads and bridges, and new roads to alleviate the overload of truck traffic on existing roads. Is Illinois now getting every dollar of federal highway funds available? - Out Here In The Middle - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:26 am: Point of Information - every state contract that I have seen specifies Net 60 for payments. Serious Question - I assume that this is 13 days AFTER the agency certifies the invoice to the Comptroller. Don’t get me wrong - this is a seriously positive achievement. Have personally waited 13 months for some payments in the past. - Sangamo Girl - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:28 am: It is fabulous when you are trying to convince someone to do work for state. Remember, that is how the Office of the Comptroller takes to pay. The vendor won’t see a check in 13 days. That may still take 30-45 days as the voucher has to wend its way out of an Agency first. Some are better than others at moving it along. - Friendly Bob Adams - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:28 am: Let’s take the good news while we can. Illinois has had so much bad news for so many years and this is refreshing. - RNUG - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:44 am: == Certainly saves on the required 12% interest for bills over 30 days. == Actually, that 1% per month doesn’t kick in until the bill is 90 days past due. - One Trick Pony - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 10:45 am: This is excellent news. I’m sure the Comptroller’s Office was getting tired of trying to decide who to pay and when. When is the next bond rating increase? - levivotedforjudy - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 11:04 am: That turnaround is incredible. But, it hurts some narratives big time. - Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 11:12 am: Financial improvement and paying bills much faster is pro-business. That can be used in political ads, how we are improving to create a better business climate. An ad can be done showing the improvement without politicians slashing social services, higher ed, employee pay/benefits/rights, etc. - Langhorne - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 11:15 am: Nice timing of the Mendoza announcement juxtaposed with the Teresi campaign announcement. - Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 11:38 am: ==Serious Question - I assume that this is 13 days AFTER the agency certifies the invoice to the Comptroller.== Rauner’s agencies made a habit of holding those invoices to make the backlog look smaller. As I recall, Mendoza insisted that each agency supply her with a list of the invoices they were holding. I think she also backed legislation to limit the practice. I’ve heard her discuss this on several occasions. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 11:55 am: Does this mean the state is up to date on payments to health care providers/employee reimbursements? If so, that’s been a major cash infusion for some struggling dental and health care offices around the state. It wasn’t long ago that many doctors wouldn’t accept state insurance because they got paid so late. Good news is always welcome. - Sue - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 12:16 pm: Any good news on finances is welcome BUT let’s remember every state has received a gazillion dollars of pandemic aid which is not reoccurring- Illinois still lags virtually every State on most financial metrics. The Dems who run Illinois need to forego more spending bases on one or two years of improvement and remember the pandemic federal boondoggle is now over - sladay - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 12:25 pm: ==where the gamblers live== I’m not sure if the casino tracks that info but the local tax split is Rockford 70%, Winnebago County 20%, Loves Park 5% and Machesney Park 5%. - sladay - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 12:27 pm: That is just the Temp casino as well. It only has video gaming until the permanent casino is built. Then it will include table games and in-person sports bets. - New Day - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 12:31 pm: This is great news and really important that they drew the distinction of state vs fed money. This is a pretty robust repudiation of the GOP talking point that it’s all because of the Fed bailout. It’s not. We’re genuinely doing much better as a state under current leadership. Thanks JB, Chris and Don. - Coco - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 2:40 pm: Let the spinning from the Illinois Channel begin. - Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Jan 12, 22 @ 3:00 pm: ===As I recall, Mendoza insisted that each agency supply her with a list of the invoices they were holding.=== There is a monthly report, the Debt Transparency Report, that lists totals reported by agencies. https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-data/debt-transparency-reports-dtr/ Personally, prefer the single page Backlog Voucher Report - the choice of those initials was inspiring! https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/financial-data/backlog-voucher-report-bvr/ Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.