* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked yesterday about the so-far blocked presidential executive orders on federal spending…
My sense is, I haven’t heard anything new, that things have calmed down quite a lot.
Having said that, there is no indication, you heard this from the White House press secretary, there’s no indication that the Trump administration has any intention of pulling back on the idea of a freeze or even an elimination of major federal programs that benefit people in the state of Illinois, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, Medicaid, things that really matter to people every day. Not to mention grant programs for state police, for local police, those are all things that are at risk as a result of the threat that was made.
And it’s clearly their intention to carry it out. It’s just that they got so much negative feedback all in one day from all across the country, including from Republican elected officials, Democratic elected officials and just nonprofits across the country. So, you know, I think they’re rethinking how they can still accomplish the goal without getting all the negative feedback. […]
We’re doing our best to put together a budget that is balanced. We’re doing our best to think about the contingencies that we might have to have as eventualities because of what we think might be coming from the Trump administration.
But every day we’re going to have to communicate to all the nonprofits and all the people in our states, and by the way, Republican mayors, Republican local elected officials that we talked to over the last 48 hours, deeply concerned about what the threat is to their local communities.
And so I think that, again, if we keep the pressure on and we keep communicating that, hopefully, hopefully they will be deterred from the worst parts of what they’re intending. Are we for efficiencies? Of course, we are. We all want to find efficiencies in government, and if they can find some and help us effectuate them, that’s great, but cutting programs massively to basically give a massive tax break to the wealthiest people in the country does not seem like something the American people will tolerate
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* After reiterating his opposition to the very costly pension reform bill, Pritzker said this…
We have worked so hard over the last six years to get nine credit upgrades, and I believe we have others that are coming to us because of being prudent. And if we balance the budget again this year, I believe people will finally see that Illinois can govern itself.
I heard that when I went to New York my first year in office. In fact, my first month in office. I met with the credit rating agencies, I met with the bond investors. And I heard this thing. I never heard anybody like, the most insulting thing you can get as a state, which is ‘We don’t think Illinois knows how to govern itself.’ And can you imagine?
And so I said, ‘Wait, well, I just took over. So could we, you know, could you give us the benefit of the doubt?’ And the answer was, essentially, no. ‘We’ve seen you mishandle budgets in Illinois,’ and not me, but previous administrations. ‘And so we need to see some consistency. We need you to balance the budget. We need you to make progress, etc.’ And I said, we’re going to do that. And I told them how we do it, and guess what? We’ve done it, and that’s why we’re getting credit upgrades, and we want to stay on that path.
So that, to me, is the most important thing we can have. Whatever it is that we do on the pension system has to be within the context of making sure we’re improving our credit. And if you think credit ratings don’t matter, let me tell you, hundreds of millions of dollars get spent in interest payments if we don’t get that right. And if we do get it right, savings of hundreds of millions of dollars, either in the potential for tax cuts or spending on the things that we really need to invest in.
* Also…
It’s very important that we live within our means in this state, and that we not resort to tax increases as a way to, you know, to balance the budget, right? And so that’s what the communication we’ve had with our agencies and looking at all the priorities that we need to take care of.
* Meanwhile, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi and the people who cover him need to learn to read a room…
Kaegi touted the need to pass “circuit-breaker” legislation in the General Assembly during Wednesday’s appearance. Supporters have floated several forms of a circuit-breaker program in recent months. Most involve a rebate or credit to low- or fixed-income homeowners who see their property tax bills rise above a certain percentage. Kaegi’s plan would apply to “the bottom half of people who are experiencing spikes of 25% or more,” he said Wednesday. “We know the key is making it a priority in Springfield.”
Ald. Desmon Yancy, 5th, and Ald. Mike Rodriguez, 22nd, joined suburban mayors from Hazel Crest, Burnham and Dixmoor at the news conference, saying quickly rising tax bills for low- and fixed-income homeowners are becoming unsustainable.
“My residents, the working-class residents of our communities, need stability so that they are not driven from their homes,” Rodriguez said. “We see just east of my ward significant displacements, and, yes, gentrification happening. We want to be on the vanguard of preservation.”
While Kaegi said his proposal has sponsors in both the Illinois House and Senate, it does not have a funding source for an estimated $200 million price tag.
It’s batten down the hatches time, Fritz.
- Perrid - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 8:30 am:
Fixing Tier 2 so it doesn’t run afoul of the SSA’ Safe Harbor stuff is important and doing it sooner probably saves more money. The proposed bill goes incredibly far beyond that and basically rolls Tier 2 back into Tier 1. Honestly by making such a big demand they shot themselves in the foot. There’s no room for negotiations here, this is laugh-you-out-of-the-room level stuff.
- Telly - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 8:33 am:
If county and city elected officials want to address high property taxes, they can start by lowering their levees. But why do that when you can ask state legislators and the governor to do all the heavy lifting?
- Remember the Alamo II - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 8:44 am:
=== If county and city elected officials want to address high property taxes, they can start by lowering their levees. ===
Cook County’s levee pales in comparison to that of our local school districts. The fact of the matter is that Kaegi changed the way that property gets assessed in Cook County and its one of the main drivers for huge increases in property tax bills. I cannot imagine that he is going to be reelected. As tone deaf of an elected official as I have ever seen.
- Chicagoan - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 8:49 am:
Does he genuinely believe that Illinois balances the budget this year without tax hikes, that will lead to a permanent change in how people view Illinois?
Come on.
You can just say your against new revenue without sounding like the most naive man in America.
- Honeybear - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:00 am:
Look, I don’t think you’ll find a group more loyal to the state of Illinois than the employees who work for the state. Despite being 9 thousand budgeted positions short/ understaffed ( that may have changed and forgive me if I’m wrong), with every day being spent trying to keep the functions of the state going, we are still showing up to work and doing our best.
I am thankful for my tier II pension.
I know the Governor appreciates us and is in our corner.
Yes, we tried to push for change.
Because we all know this is going to get super bad…for maybe longer than four years.
Don’t get mad at us for trying to shore ourselves up.
We are tremendously worried…about making it.
Just remember, Willy Wonka doesn’t make the chocolate.
Oompa Loompas do.
If Oompa Loompas go down, the functions of the State of Illinois go down.
This is that song after each learning event where the Oompa Loompas come out like the Greek chorus and deliver the moral message.
- Two Left Feet - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:15 am:
“It’s very important that we…not resort to tax increases…”
Illinois will increase taxes. Something: sales taxes, expanded income tax base, corporate taxes, excise taxes, motor fuel taxes, etc. Anyone want to take the other side in that bet?
- Mike Gascoigne - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:26 am:
I love when billionaires say “don’t raise taxes” and “live within your means”. It really makes me feel like they care.
- Frida’s boss - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:36 am:
How much was taken in from last years tax increases? It was a massive package, how was that still not enough?
Anyway to look at spending and maybe cut costs anywhere? Any redundancies? Any programs that aren’t working?
- Anyone Remember - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 9:37 am:
Balanced budget on a continuing basis with current tax structure isn’t feasible. Late Thompson era former Bureau of the Budget deputy director wrote an article for U of I publication (which can’t be found online) saying for each 1% increase in the cost of living, revenues increased 0.8%. While that percentage may have changed over time, briefly, cause is still there. Taxes that are not value based (ad valorem) but specific (per unit); things such as tobacco, alcohol, public utility, etc. Until this is addressed, as the graduated income tax was an attempt to do, barring a rip roarin’ national economy, this will be an annual exercise.
- It's always Sunny in Illinois - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 10:18 am:
It’s amazing that now that the Federal Covid Funds have been spent no mention is given to the fact of the shuffling that was permitted to help States like Illinois balance their budgets….but as is normal the Legislatures/Governor allowed spending to keep increasing at non-sustainable levels post Federal Covid funds (See Chicago..Transit….CPS…The City)
Now the free lunch check has arrived, taxpayers need to be prepared to push back vehemently for next year and beyond because there is zero evidence the spending is goin to be attacked in any meaningful way.
- City Zen - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 10:45 am:
Pritzker’s big misstep was never acknowledging Covid relief as the main driver of the state’s improved fiscal standing.
JB predicted drastic cuts when the Fair Tax failed. Less than a year later there were no cuts and he was bragging about Illinois first credit ratings increase in 20 years. It wasn’t magic.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:13 am:
I have family members in Tier 2 and certainly hope that gets an upgrade. Having said that, I don’t think the current proposal will get very far given the budget situation in 2025.
- thisjustinagain - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 11:33 am:
Fritz Kagei needs to stop talking. His office over-assessed my property value by $24,000. On a property of $71,000, that’s a big over-assessment. Then he cries crocodile and supports a bill which doesn’t address his office’s shortcomings, nor the issue of Statewide property tax reform.
- Roadrager - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 12:00 pm:
==I love when billionaires say “don’t raise taxes” and “live within your means”. It really makes me feel like they care.==
He literally ran a campaign of “Please raise taxes on me, make me pay more to the state, I can afford it” and it got thwomped at the ballot box because other billionaires threw a tantrum.
- Big Spender - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 12:23 pm:
== billionaires threw a tantrum. ==
The billionaires ran a campaign early way before Pritzker.
When those same billionaires tried to take him on directly, the man felt compelled to spend tens of millions of dollars defining his opponent well before the election.
It is quite clear to any sober observer that one was taken far more seriously than the other.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Jan 31, 25 @ 12:48 pm:
- it got thwomped at the ballot box because other billionaires threw a tantrum. -
Let’s not overlook that it was an extremely poorly managed campaign by an extremely well paid Democratic consultant with a pretty underwhelming track record.