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A look at the cuts that Rep. Crespo proposed
Tuesday, Jun 4, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller
Rep. Crespo ended up voting against the revenue omnibus. * I went back and pulled up the video of House Appropriations-General Services Committee Chair Crespo’s floor comments from last week and turned them into bullet points. My additions are italicized…
* Hiring freeze for one year: “As was mirrored after California, where Governor Newsom says they’re facing a fiscal issue, suggested and proposed that they freeze their vacancies for a year.” [California’s budget deficit was $45 billion. Several Illinois agencies, including DCFS, IDFPR, IDOC etc., etc. are trying to ramp up employment after years of stagnation.] * “Address the weight loss drug coverage that was introduced in the BIMP language a year ago.” [As we previously discussed, last year’s expansion “will only account for a fraction of the total new cost increase.”] * 5 percent reserve on all discretionary GRF lines: “Agencies can use up to 95% of what they’re budgeted, come back in May, and if they needed the 5% then we would consider it if revenues were available. And we could do that without impacting the higher ed, MAP, Medicaid, the courts or constitutional officers. We did that in Fiscal Year 10. We did that in Fiscal Year 11. It’s not a novel concept.” Rep. Crespo said all of that totaled about a billion dollars. Discuss.
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- Fill it up with Regular - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 1:31 pm:
Wasn’t that Bill Brady’s budget plan?
- TheInvisibleMan - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 1:37 pm:
I’ll certainly give him credit for at least coming up with specific and thought out items to back up his stance. That’s a rare trait these days.
On to the only slightly related…
“weight loss drug coverage”
There was an interesting document I was reading the other day, mostly focused on the business and revenue angle, but it’s fairly clear the secondary effects are going to be on tax collections.
The weight loss drug is predicted to have a noticeable impact on the bottom lines of junk food item sales. To the point where it will likely cause a material impact of a few percentage points on revenue for the companies which make them. Walmart has already come out and said they have seen an impact on sales of these items.
That second order effect? Sales taxes collected in places which still insist on keeping a grocery tax locally. Even if a municipality adds back its own grocery tax, it will most likely not recover the original amount for the reason mentioned above.
It should be motivation for any mayors thinking about adding back the grocery tax to find other ways to finance their operations. Adding it back not only could lead to political pushback for them, but the financial reward might not even be worth it. The grocery tax is quickly becoming a lose-lose situation for municipalities.
- Annonin' - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 1:52 pm:
Capt. FAX inserts sink the Crespo Cuts. But next will be exciting
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 1:59 pm:
=Wasn’t that Bill Brady’s budget plan?=
I remember Brady stating ” A dime out of every dollar” so not entirely the same but similar.
Not sure Crespo’s plan actually equates to billions, but give him credit for sharing and idea.
- NotRich - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:02 pm:
Too many tax eaters who have never signed the front of a check in today’s G A. And a Gov running for Prez and wants to be everyone’s sugar daddy. Crespo is a lone voice of reason.
- City Guy - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:06 pm:
I have always disliked hiring freezes. It is a simplistic answer that can end up costing more than it saves. There has to be a process for filling critical positions, which ends up taking time and often creates problems. One outcome is some not-so-critical positions get filled for political reasons. A second outcome is the State loses a number of good candidates because the job is not posted or get other jobs.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:11 pm:
=== Hiring freeze for one year===
People that think this is a good idea should be required to spend some time with the Eastern Bloc.
- Incandenza - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:20 pm:
I welcome legislators suggesting specific ways to either enhance revenue or reduce spending. It’s a more prudent road than the very easy position of “just spend more”. However, the hiring freezes will likely only have negative repercussions. The suggestion to address weight loss drug coverage is more on the right track - focus in on the benefit packages offered by the state and find places to control costs or utilization.
Also, find ways to raise more revenue! Tax services, make residential development as easy as possible in order to expand the tax base (YIMBY policies), tax carbon intensive activities.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:21 pm:
” 10 percent cut to operations expenses”
A reminder that prudent budgeting requires looking at both sides of the balance sheet - Kudos to Crespo
- hmm ok - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:24 pm:
we could just cut all the things the GA adds to the gov’s proposed budget every year. looking at the bill there are some quite large lumps in there that the gov didn’t propose. probably a good place to start.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:47 pm:
===we could just cut all the things the GA adds===
60-30-1
- thunderspirit - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 2:53 pm:
I’ll echo the commendations for specific proposals, even if (most of) these are less than ideal.
Hiring freezes, in particular, are almost always a really popular bad idea.
- Politix - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 3:32 pm:
Sure. Freeze hiring. Balance the budget on the backs of gov employees who have been doing the work of three.
- SaulGoodman - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 3:43 pm:
** we could just cut all the things the GA adds to the gov’s proposed budget every year. **
Or, maybe, we should understand that the Governor is not the CEO of Illinois, and he doesn’t get to have the only voice on the budget.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 4:35 pm:
Years ago I attended a press event with Governor Thompson, who announced a hiring freeze in response to budget concerns.
A reporter reminded him that he had announced a freeze months ago that had never apparently been lifted, so was he re-freezing the freeze?
Big Jim was visibly angry to get called out on his b.s. Everyone else laughed.
- Sre708 - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 5:02 pm:
Agencies could still get directed to implement cuts later in the budget year or the governor may not spend everything allocated.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 5:15 pm:
= Too many tax eaters =
Are there a lot of farmers commenting on the blog?
- Dan Johnson - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 5:20 pm:
Managing health care reimbursements is a monster item that likely could use some attention for some savings. We have tons of pools of local and state employees (and state vendors) and we often pay the marketplace rate for procedures without paying for all the preventative wellness services. Lots of layers there.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:48 pm:
===Agencies could still get directed to implement cuts later in the budget year or the governor may not spend everything allocated. ===
I’m pretty sure this is what happens when the state has several thousand unfunded vacancies.
- Suburban Mom - Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 11:07 pm:
Illinois is already quite understaffed compared to other states (35th in state employees per capita) and hiring freezes just make everything slower, more expensive, and more annoying.
I’m otherwise open to the discussions, although I think Illinois probably needs to increase operating expenses in a “spend money to make money” way. Spending some cash now can create efficiencies that save way more money later. But of course this would require that spending to be extremely targeted on key areas where a big investment now could lower an ongoing operating expense long-term. I legitimately don’t know if that’s an expertise the governor’s office or legislature have; otherwise it’s just churn spending on vanity projects.
- Inflation - Wednesday, Jun 5, 24 @ 1:31 am:
Gov’s budget was 1.5 percent increase
Passed budget 1.6 so GA added little
Inflation was over 3 percent
There was no wild overspending.
- Shytown - Wednesday, Jun 5, 24 @ 2:15 am:
Yeah, I’m not buying it Crespo. “Across the board cuts” and “hiring freezes” are so 2000s. Those ideas are made by folks who have none to begin with. And god forbid that the state covers a health care management tool that is going to reduce the use of diabetes, cancer causing junk foods. Next.