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* The comptroller’s office is releasing a report about the impasse’s consequences. Some press release bullet points…
* State contracting with non-profits declined due to the lack of state budgets. Grant contracts with non-profits decreased from 6,333 in fiscal year 2015 to 3,916 in fiscal year 2016—a drop of just over 38 percent. While it’s difficult to pinpoint the number of social service providers that closed as a direct result of the impasse, this drop in contracts shows the negative effect on the state’s provider network.
* During the impasse, public universities and community colleges enrolled 72,196 fewer students, cut 7,490 jobs, and the state lost roughly $948.7 million in generated economic output—$461.7 million of which was felt outside the Chicagoland area.
* The Monetary Award Program (MAP), which is a college tuition grant program designed to benefit low-income students, experienced a decrease in funding from $364.1 million to $169.8 million, a 53.36 percent cut. The number of MAP grants awarded continues to lag pre-impasse levels to this day.
* The bill backlog hit a record peak of $16.7 billion. By the end of calendar year 2017, the amount of late payment interest penalties linked to the budget impasse period totaled $1.139 billion—more than the combined late payment interest penalties over the previous 18 years.
* The fiscal year 2018 budget included $6 billion in general obligation bonding authority to pay down a portion of the backlogged debt. The Office of the Comptroller stopped the clock on most interest accruing bills and used federal matching funds to pay nearly $8.8 billion in backlogged bills. Even with the large paydown, Illinois’ bill backlog remains above pre-impasse levels.
* In interest alone, Illinois will pay $1.936 billion on this new general obligation debt. However, that is much less than the projected cost if the state had failed to refinance a portion of the backlog—between $6.02 billion and $8.02 billion.
Man.
The full report is here.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:07 am
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Gee, I can’t imagine why she waited until now to issue this report. I’m sure it is 100% factual with zero partisan tilt.
Comment by Not It Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:09 am
Not It, bitter much? lol
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:10 am
If a business closes with payments from the state still due to the business, do those payments get made to some entity or does the state just pocket the payment?
Comment by My New Handle Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:15 am
No blame for the Democrats for the budget impasse or the unbalanced budgets since 2003 apparently.
They were cooperative and professional the entire time. All we need is even higher taxes and voila, problem fixed
Comment by Lucky Pieree Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:16 am
@ Not It- get together with Louis A and prove her numbers wrong.
Until then, yeah she is sharp and knows how to weaponize these numbers which is what Rauner did to Quinn.
Like OW says, “governors own” and Rauner owns every penny of this.
Good thing for Rauner no one else messages like Mendoza or he might be polling in the single digits.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:16 am
@LP- I see you failed to make a single comment about your favorite Bruce’s responsibilities with regard to the disaster he created.
Raunerism is strong with you. Maybe his estate in Italy has a guest house for you?
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:18 am
Only in Raunerworld does the reaction to this report revolve around complaints about the timing. Everywhere else, the complaints center on the fiscal mismanagement. \_(“/)_/
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:18 am
Comptroller teeing up Rauner for tonight
Comment by Rabid Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:20 am
Rauner owns “every penny” of this and the coequal legislature and Supreme court is blameless?
You might want to go back to civics class to see how government actually functions and forget about what Oswego’s favorite Republican says
Comment by Lucky Pierre Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:20 am
==* The Monetary Award Program (MAP), which is a college tuition grant program designed to benefit low-income students, experienced a decrease in funding from $364.1 million to $169.8 million, a 53.36 percent cut. The number of MAP grants awarded continues to lag pre-impasse levels to this day.==
But don’t worry, we’ve got $500 m for the DPI project lol.
Comment by njt16 Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:21 am
Rauner is wishing he had his wingwoman back. We’re grateful she’s not.
Comment by Norseman Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:22 am
===how government actually functions===
Yeah, there are three branches and two separate entities in the legislative branch and your entire focus here is solely on one of those entities.
Also, if you’re gonna blame Edgar for the ramp, Rauner gets it for the impasse and everything else.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:23 am
These damaging facts come as absolutely no surprise for those of us who regularly follow CapFax.
Unfortunately, probably 90% of the potential voters, both the D’s and the R’s, are unaware of these details. And that is unfortunate.
Only those individuals and families that have been impacted by the Rauner agenda realize how devastating the impasse has been.
Oh sorry, I forgot - “Because…Madigan.”
Comment by illini Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:23 am
“Supreme court is blameless?” Well, the Supreme court didn’t torpedo the “Grand Bargain”, so there’s that.
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:27 am
Was Mike Madigan a supporter of the Grand Bargain?
Please fill us in
Comment by Lucky Pierre Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:28 am
=You might want to go back to civics class to see how government actually functions and forget about what Oswego’s favorite Republican says=
Lol, that is precious. Whew. And still no critique of Rauner’s work.
So, quick lesson on Illinois government- the GOVERNOR is required to submit a balanced budget to the co-equal legislature.
But you are an expert.
Let me know if he ever does that. Just once. He has already had four chances. He will not get another.
Just and FYI- “whataboutism” does not qualify as knowledge or actual debate.
But you are fine.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:29 am
I would like to thank Comptroller Mendoza and her team for not forgetting what happened, and for making it plain exactly what the cost of the Governor’s “courage” was. This loss of capacity and potential is real and will be felt for years to come. Every day I hear from providers that remain about the challenges they face in rebuilding and restoring what was lost. For some people, the impact was life-changing — a college degree not pursued, a child lost to the streets or to heroin, a breast cancer not detected, a sexual assault trauma unaddressed, a perpetrator not brought to justice, a senior citizen dying in a nursing home — and will never be fixed.
So go ahead and sneer, Not It, and say this was just politics. It isn’t, or at least it is not just that. It was also about people’s lives, and their livelihoods, their hopes and their dreams, about what they and their community could do and be, and what they could give back to benefit us all and this state that I love. Think about that for a moment before you make this about a political chit.
Comment by Andrea Durbin Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:30 am
Let’s give LP a break. His blameless governor was busy risking his safety rescuing a deer caught in a fence. Otherwise he and Diana could have helped all those service providers.
Comment by don the legend Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:30 am
===Oswego’s favorite Republican says===
Rauner is NOT a Republican.
Plus, “What Rich said”
Governors own.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:33 am
Good luck to the BTIA(TM) folks assigned to spin this as sound bidness principles needed to save Illinois from further economic downturn.
Maybe a second term of more-of-the-same is needed.
(Yes, Snark)
Comment by Stumpy's bunker Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:34 am
I, like most people knew that the budget impasse did a lot of damage but after reading this it’s even worse than I thought. Its mind boggling the damage that one man was willing to inflict just to get some non budget items passed that he wanted.
What can be learned from this? When a man runs for office campaigning as a political outsider and has no political experience you’d better be leery of putting him into high office. Rauner was a bull in a china shop and it’s going to take some time to fix the damage he has done.
Comment by The Dude Abides Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:36 am
But, but,,, drivin’ results. Transformative. Reform. Superstars. BTIA. Madigan. Waste, fraud, and abuse.
These are torpedoes midship. Been waiting for this. The numbers are devestating. Candidates in tier 1 races should localize the numbers, and turn the tables on repubs — how can you support rauner? You want more of the same?
Comment by Langhorne Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:37 am
There was another $151m appropriated in FY17 to pay Monetary Award Program grants retroactively for the 2nd half of FY16. The report itself footnotes that appropriately and makes another key point: “In 2017, MAP grants were restored… However, downstream impacts to the uncertainty of the program in 2016 were still felt.”
I’ve heard directly from prospective students since then that they’ve heard they can’t rely on MAP. The impasse undercut people’s trust in a program that’s been reliable for generations. Even with funding restored, the trust is broken.
That’s not w/o consequence: If low-income students don’t believe the funding is going to be available, they don’t go.
Comment by Janice Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:38 am
Illinois has been driving towards a cliff for a while now, but man, Bruce dropped a cinderblock on the gas pedal and jumped out.
Comment by Actual Red Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:41 am
===Was Mike Madigan a supporter of the Grand Bargain?===
Nope. And that’s the whole point, doofus.
The Senate Dems had enough votes to cut a deal with the Senate Republicans regardless of Madigan’s position. Rauner wouldn’t allow it. End of grand bargain. End of any chance to push Madigan into a corner.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:45 am
===Was Mike Madigan a supporter of the Grand Bargain?
Please fill us in===
It never got to the House.
Bruce Rauner undercut Leader Radogno before it got there.
*Now*, for the 7,538th Time, you’re filled in. Again.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:46 am
Maybe all the “Lucky Pierre” bots should wonder… again…
“Why didn’t Rauner want to back Madigan in that corner?”
I never understood it, wrote as much in real time.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:49 am
The fact is the state simply cannot afford all these goodies. I have nothing against social service providers, but we can’t afford them all. MAP grants and many many state universities (stuffed to the rafters with patronage hacks) are great but we can’t afford them. The Dems say let’s get the revenue to pay for all this stuff. Well god love you and if you do I wish you well as I will simply leave the state. But not everyone is as mobile as I am. So voters think carefully about what you want b
Comment by DougChicago Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:51 am
==No blame for the Democrats for the budget impasse or the unbalanced budgets since 2003 apparently.==
What are you talking about? Read these two paragraphs:
“There is no distinct origin for Illinois’ ongoing financial difficulties. A multitude of issues, including underfunding of state pension obligations, deficit spending, and a record bill backlog, have contributed to state financial pressures in the past. News organizations have pointed to
changes in pension funding in 2005 and 2006 as well as the 1995 “Pension Ramp” and funding
plan, which created a spike in pension costs as a percentage of total General Funds in the 2010s—from 4.8 percent in 2011 to 22.5 percent in 2015.2,3 The Civic Federation, a government research organization, agrees, listing the pension ramp, the 2002 early retirement initiative costs, and historical underfunding and investment losses to the pension systems, as contributors to the state’s
fiscal challenges.
Some of the state’s bedrock financial pressures have even older roots. Researchers have cited
pension system underfunding in the 1950s and 1960s, the 1917 Illinois Pension Laws Commission, and even the state’s only period of sovereign default in 1842 as origin points for Illinois’ chronic financial woes.”
The report makes clear that these problems didn’t begin with Rauner. That you think any description of the budget crisis is per se an attack on Rauner says far more about Rauner than this report.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:53 am
==are great but we can’t afford them==
Look at how many students we lost during the impasse. We can’t afford *not* to have MAP Grants.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:54 am
“MAP grants and many many state universities (stuffed to the rafters with patronage hacks) are great but we can’t afford them.”
And your solution? Another 72,000 students leaving the state?
Comment by illini Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:56 am
==Was Mike Madigan a supporter of the Grand Bargain?==
I dunno. Know why? Because Bruce Rauner is so jaw-droppingly bad at his job that he never forced Mike Madigan to take a position on it.
Why do you keep making excuses for a guy who has so comprehensively failed you?
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:56 am
==During the impasse, public universities and community colleges enrolled 72,196 fewer students==
Is that a knock on Rahm too? City Colleges enrollment plummeted over 20,000 since 2014.
Comment by City Zen Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:58 am
Rauner gambled that he can pin everything on Madigan. What a cruel and destructive ploy.
Madigan does have a lot of power, but he’s had an entire chamber over which to be concerned, like when he had the few Democrats who wouldn’t give him a supermajority on a progressive income tax and the union arbitration bill veto overrides. Rauner is by himself one-third of government, so he has enough power to not whine that Madigan ruins everything.
Madigan offered Rauner a chance to further reform workers compensation, something for which the budget should have never been held up the way it was. Is there reason to doubt Madigan would have followed through with his end on that offer?
Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 10:59 am
“Why do you keep making excuses for a guy who has so comprehensively failed you?”
I have a buddy somewhere overseas that managed to “obtain” a copy of LP’s programming code. Here’s what he sent me:
10 GOSUB BLAMEMADIGAN
20 GOTO 10
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:07 am
Picture of Rauner is clear. He is the kind of man who would, could, did, cost taxpayers billions, destroy lives, shutter jobs and education so he and his wife could bank millions. Nuff said.
Comment by Generic Drone Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:08 am
What would Illinois look like if Madigan was a collaborator of Rauner instead of his nemesis?
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:09 am
Mendoza has saved Rauner’s campaign team a lot of work. When asked about Rauner’s accomplishments as governor, they can read her list aloud.
Comment by DuPage Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:12 am
Anonymous @ 11:09 - Worse than it does now.
Comment by Stark Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:13 am
@CityZen - maybe because of the unavailability of MAP funding? Just wondering?
Comment by illini Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:13 am
=Is that a knock on Rahm too? City Colleges enrollment plummeted over 20,000 since 2014.=
Pretty sure it was reserved for Rauner.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:23 am
Not It, Give us the date on which Comptroller Mendoza could have released this report and you would have embraced the high level of research that went into it. Take off the conspiracy glasses and you’ll see it was released today to coincide with her addressing the Governing Magazine Summit on Financial Leadership in New York about how states are equipped to deal with the next recession. Answer for Illinois, thanks to the Budget Impasse: Not very well. https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/news/press-releases/comptroller-speaks-at-governing-summit-on-recession-releases-report-on-consequences-of-budget-impasse1/
Comment by The numbers don't lie Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 11:41 am
Illinois cannot afford not to have “these goodies”.
We cannot afford an uneducated population. We cannot afford untreated mental illness and the consequences to which that leads. We cannot afford to have families living on the streets, nor can we afford to have people killed and injured by intimate partners. We cannot afford not to treat drug addiction.
Because if we don’t pay on the front end, we will definitely pay on the back end, and at a substantially higher cost.
Comment by JoanP Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:09 pm
Rabid uncompromising radical conservatism has a big price. See above for the currently known tally.
Administering government is a skill, and not well suited to extremist political coupes. Learned it. Now know it.
Comment by El Conquistador Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:12 pm
Mendoza is a super star. She is likable, quick on her feet, has superb timing, and is excellent in whatever position she is in. Very hard to criticize her because of these qualities and she bites back.
Comment by Barrington Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:16 pm
@Joan - I guess you and I are the outliers who still believe that government is there to provide for the “public good”. And some of us even realize that our taxes have to pay for some of “these goodies”.
Comment by illini Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:16 pm
===how government actually functions==
As the saying goes, “the Governor proposes…the legislature disposes.”
As lead partner of GCTR, do you think Bruce ever put “working together on a grand bargain” as a line item to balance the books?
Comment by Jocko Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:18 pm
>End of any chance to push Madigan into a corner.
I think this would have been far sweeter for the anti-Madigan folk than the many anti-Madigan ads and mailers these past few years, not to mention the positive impact on the state.
Comment by Earnest Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:22 pm
==The fact is the state simply cannot afford all these goodies.==
The fact is the state can’t afford to not fund these goodies. Takeda didn’t leave Deerfield because they wanted to pay the higher taxes in Boston, they wanted access
to the educated people in that town.
Funding education is a must if a state wants to compete. There are places in the world where people have no public schools, no infrastructure to speak of and they live on less than a dollar a day. Illinois will never be able to compete with those places for labor costs. So the only way we can compete is by a providing skilled and educated workforce.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:37 pm
==Takeda didn’t leave Deerfield because they wanted to pay the higher taxes in Boston, they wanted access to the educated people in that town.==
To which private school-educated people are you referring, Harvard or MIT? Or are you implying Takeda moved east for better access to UMass graduates?
Comment by City Zen Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:43 pm
Lucky:
Your constant victimhood is growing tiresome. And you argue like a child.
All of this criticism is fair game and you want to know why? Because Bruce Rauner himself argued during the last election that Pat Quinn failed. You’ve been reminded of that time and time again. Now all of a sudden it’s not the Governor’s fault. He can’t have it both ways.
==Was Mike Madigan a supporter of the Grand Bargain?
Please fill us in==
And, Mr. Wizard, the Grand Bargain was in the Senate. None of us knows what the outcome would be because the Governor killed it (which is a fact you don’t admit to)
You’re an unabashed propaganda machine. I’ll be glad when your machine is turned off.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:49 pm
Andrea—Thanks for putting a personal and human empathy perspective to this post. It was not just politics and a lot of people suffered.
Comment by Big Jer Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:51 pm
==I’m sure it is 100% factual with zero partisan tilt.==
The numbers are the numbers. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they aren’t factual.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 12:51 pm
==Harvard or MIT?==
That was the reason Takeda gave. If you think private universities don’t benefit from taxpayer money or from taxpayer funded infrastructure, I have an Abe Lincoln owned hat to sell you.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 1:03 pm
All this willful hostage-taking, all this real damage to our citizens and state institutions — does anyone recall what the ROI was supposed to be on the Turnaround Agenda?
A $510 million annual increase in state revenues. That wouldn’t even cover half the nut on just the juice on the runup of the backlog of bills.
Only a lunatic would pursue such a reckless course, for so long, for such a payoff. Or a navel-gazing narcissist with a Messiah Complex.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160119/NEWS02/160119822/rauner-s-turnaround-agenda-math-doesn-t-add-up
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 1:29 pm
==If you think private universities don’t benefit from taxpayer money or from taxpayer funded infrastructure…==
“You didn’t build that artificial intelligence laboratory. Ow wait, maybe you did.”
Guessing the $50 billion or so in endowments has more to do with Harvard and MIT funding than whatever crumbs the state throws their way.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 1:31 pm
But I thought state employees and their pensions were the cause of all Illinois financial problems. Isn’t that what the administration thinks?
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 1:32 pm
When the kids leave the state for higher education, they don’t come back for jobs.
Rauner stepped on the throats of higher ed and the young people it’s designed to serve.
Shameful.
Comment by Wallinger Dickus Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 1:40 pm
==When the kids leave the state for higher education, they don’t come back for jobs.==
So for whom are they building all those downtown Chicago towers?
Comment by City Zen Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 2:27 pm
Goodies? Over a billion dollars in interest and late penalties?
Responsible folks from any party could support a tax increase to reduce debt costs.
Comment by Deadbeat Conservative Thursday, Sep 20, 18 @ 3:42 pm
==“You didn’t build that artificial intelligence laboratory. Ow wait, maybe you did.”==
Who said private universities don’t get private money too? Both Harvard and MIT get over half a billion taxpayer dollars each directly and that’s not including infrastructure, roads, sewer, police protection etc. Some crumbs.
Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Friday, Sep 21, 18 @ 10:05 am