* Finke…

Paychecks for nearly 600 state employees are caught up in a dispute between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza over which state account to use to pay them.

None of the workers has missed a paycheck yet, but Mendoza’s office told Rauner’s office that it needed to resubmit paperwork to pay the workers “to avoid any disruption in payroll.”

Mendoza’s office says the workers should be paid out of two revolving funds that are used to cover expenses for state vehicle maintenance and building leases. The Rauner administration, though, wants the employees paid out of the state’s general fund.

In a letter to Mendoza’s office Thursday, Ryan Green, general counsel for the Department of Central Management Services, said payroll vouchers were submitted to Mendoza to pay the workers out of the state’s general fund, which is used for most expenses but no longer has enough money in it to cover all of the state’s bills.

However, Green said there also isn’t enough money in the Facilities Management Revolving Fund and the State Garage Revolving Fund to cover all of the expenses they are supposed to pay.

* More from the CMS letter to Mendoza…

The State Garage Revolving Fund also is the source of critical fuel-related payments that keep state vehicles on the road, as well as fund the maintenance of Department of Human Services’ vehicles that transport our most vulnerable citizens for medical treatment. By forcing CMS to drain the Revolving Funds, your office is putting those critical health and safety functions of the State at risk. And make no mistake, shifting payroll to these funds ensures they will be depleted long before the fiscal year is over. We have determined that, ifpayroll is included, the cash projected to be in Revolving Funds through the end of this fiscal year is not sufficient to cover all of the above critical services. Because these funds get the bulk of their revenues from GRF payments required to be made by the agencies that CMS serves, in the current budget impasse, those agencies do not have sufficient GRF or other available appropriations to make complete and timely payments into these CMS Revolving Funds. […]

As you know, CMS is authorized under the State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105) to pay employees under all available funds, including GRF. And CMS’s payroll plans line up with a longstanding practice of prior Comptrollers in recognizing each agency’s discretion with respect to the source offunds used to make payroll. In other words, after drawing the Revolving Funds down to zero, you will be forced to switch back to GRF to comply with Judge LeChien’s court order. Why, then, do we need to deplete other critical funds in the process?

Good point. The other side is that the GRF bank account is essentially overdrawn right now to the tune of $12 billion. Paying those workers from GRF will only make the backlog worse.

* From the comptroller’s letter to CMS…

Our Office is in receipt of Central Management Services’ payroll voucher submission to the Office of Comptroller for which there is no authorization beyond the $771,747 remaining from existing amounts available from General Revenue Funds.

As a result of the Governor’s failure to present a balanced budget for the General Assembly’s action, the Office of the Comptroller is left to triage the state’s obligations to ensure provision of critical services for the state’s residents, particularly the most vulnerable. All efforts must be made to utilize existing resources from other available state funds, especially when there are enacted appropriations specifically for such purposes. Your agency’s original request for an additional $24 million, or 73%, increase over previous levels is simply not appropriate given the dire circumstances the state is facing.

Maybe a truce is in order here? “Prior comptrollers” often had decent working relationships with the governor’s office. Team Rauner has not been kind to Mendoza since their own candidate lost the election and that unkindness has been returned in, um, kind.

* Also from the comptroller’s letter to CMS…

The fact remains that your agency has yet to expend from lawfully enacted appropriations of $32 million despite the fact that the current balances of these funds exceed $93 million. These are the same funds that you utilized in previous years for payroll without expressing concerns about disruption.

We’re already nine months into the fiscal year and CMS hasn’t yet tapped into those funds? Looks like they could be squirreling money away in case the grand bargain fails. And it also looks like Mendoza isn’t going to let them do this and might end up causing some sort of crisis as a result.

* More from the comptroller…

In regard to potential disruption of critical services, if you feel that you have over extended your obligations as to put critical health and safety functions of the State at risk, we encourage you to seek the proper appropriation authority from the General Assembly and the Governor immediately.

A budget deal would, indeed, solve this problem pretty quick.

* Back to the CMS letter to the comptroller…

Furthermore, when the General Assembly passed and the Governor signed Public Act 99-0524 in June 2016, the legislative intent on the treatment of payroll during the budget impasse was clear. The amounts appropriated in various funds, including the Revolving Funds at issue in your direction to CMS, are not intended to be used for payroll.

Those appropriations expired on December 31st.

* More CMS…

Putting it all together, it is our position that the Comptroller has the legal authority to continue processing payroll vouchers for this group of approximately 400 CMS employees using GRF. There is no legal reason to shift to the Revolving Funds. Nor is there any sensible policy rationale for forcing CMS to exhaust critical funds and put the health and safety ofour citizens at risk. We will continue to draw our payroll vouchers against GRF and will expect your office to comply with the St. Clair County court order by processing them as you and your predecessor have done up to this point.

She doesn’t need a “legal reason.” She pays the bills. You gotta do it her way if you want those bills paid unless you want to take her to court.

Again, call a truce and work it out. Wouldn’t that be better than engaging in this back and forth every time there’s a disagreement?

*** UPDATE ***  The Rauner administration is admitting in a new press release attacking Mendoza that they’re purposely squirreling away this money. Emphasis added…

“This decision will begin to deplete these government shutdown prevention funds, which could compromise IDPH services,” said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D.  “Communicable disease investigations and nursing home inspections would be impacted if the state were unable to pay rent because of this directive.”

“The Department of Human Services provides critical services to families in need,” DHS Secretary Jim Dimas said. “This could impair our ability to provide children and families with access to food assistance, child care and health care needs.” […]

“Comptroller Mendoza recently paid state legislators, and herself, the same way CMS is requesting to pay these 578 employees,” Acting Director Hoffman said. “There is no reason CMS should be forced to drain our government shutdown prevention funds to make payroll when she has money available to pay these employees.”

Um, she hasn’t yet paid herself. Legislators have been paid once in six months.

* The response…

Governor Rauner’s administration is trying to concoct a phony crisis to create a headline to deflect once again from his failure to fulfill his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget.

The Rauner administration has $93 million dollars in two funds that they have always used to pay the employees of Central Management Services. Now they suddenly want to horde those funds and instead raid the state’s General Revenue Fund – taking money from patients in hospice and nursing homes; meals on wheels for the elderly; and support services for disabled children.

Instead of using the funds with a balance of $93 million; Gov. Rauner wants to raid the fund he put $12.5 billion in the hole by failing to propose a balanced budget for the last three years.

Rauner’s administration has more than enough money to pay employees from the department’s self-protected funds. The only reason to draw attention to this issue now is to manufacture a phony headline about state employees in “danger” of missing a paycheck. This is just one of many phony stories Rauner’s administration has shopped in recent weeks. Expect more: All just as phony.

No employees will miss any paychecks if the administration uses the money that the General Assembly authorized them to use and the Governor signed. These funds were used in an identical fashion under the previous Comptroller. The Facilities Management Revolving Fund and the State Garage Revolving Fund have no role in caring for seniors, the disabled or newborns as the administration cynically suggests. The administration can continue using those funds for payroll as they always have. Or they can choose to create a phony crisis for P.R. value and continue playing politics with people’s lives.

It is entirely on The Governor.