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Budget briefs

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Illinois

* In case you’re wondering, we’ll be keeping an eye on this bill all day today. That’s the budget bill, which Gov. Blagojevich claims he’ll partially veto to take out “pork” and other stuff.

* Included in that budget bill is this item…

Just days after Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved 9.6 percent pay hikes for himself and Illinois lawmakers, he is poised again to sign off on yet another salary bump.

The latest one would push his salary up by $20,000 at a time when he and lawmakers have been unable to complete their business on time.

The budget sent to Blagojevich last week by the General Assembly would add another 3.5 percent to their pay checks, meaning that the governor and lawmakers would see their salaries jump a total of more than 13 percent in the course of just a few days.

* Expect the guv to sign that provision into law. This is what he said about the other pay raise bill…

“That seems to be among legislators the single biggest priority for them and I felt if that is so important to them then and that’s what really motivates their priorities, then maybe if I respect their priority then they will respect the priority I have, which is giving health care to families,” Blagojevich said.

The governor’s press office suggested to Lee Newspapers that the pay hike in the budget bill would likely be treated the same way.

* Meanwhile, the governor signed the corporate loophole closure bill late yesterday…

A key component of the new state budget was put into place Thursday with the elimination of $250 million worth of business tax breaks.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed Senate Bill 1544, which ends a handful of tax breaks now enjoyed by businesses and creates an amnesty program for some businesses that have unpaid taxes.

Blagojevich called the tax breaks “corporate loopholes” that placed an unfair burden on individual taxpayers.

Not mentioned in the story is that part of the budget deal, which now seems defunct, was to get rid of two of those loophole closures - one on car rental companies and another on banks.

* The guv also vetoed a bill that reinstated the tax credit for start-up costs for providing employee child care…

“This bill creates a corporate tax loophole in a tight fiscal year,” Blagojevich said in a statement.

The legislation passed both chambers with unanimous votes.

* More budget and other stuff…

* School construction stymied by technicality

* Blagojevich’s veto could mean millions lost locally

* County poised to survive budget fight

* Feds probe Howe Developmental Center

* Funding concern for new Kane bridge

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 10:48 am

Comments

Last week Madigan indicated that he would begin negotiations to get SB 572 RTA/CTA/Metra/Pace funding situation resolved. Does anyone happen to know if/when that will happen given the week’s events?

Comment by Anon Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 10:54 am
Does anyone know the status of the Supp Approp bill ? While the Gov signed it, the Comptroller’s Office is taking the position that it does not have authority to release FY ‘07 funds in FY ‘08. This impacts a variety of institutions that have money in the supplemental.

Also, if this is the case, how can legislators get their pay raises out of the supplemental ?

Comment by Helm Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 11:00 am
I repeat my comment here.
Interesting. I’m all in favor of closing loopholes. But is daycare for working mothers really a loophole ?
Blagojevich vetoed a bill that would have reinstated a tax credit for companies that begin offering day-care services to employees.
“This bill creates a corporate tax loophole in a tight fiscal year,” Blagojevich said in a statement.

Comment by Lula May Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 11:15 am
Well at least they can agree on something, their own pay raises. This is an unprecedented level of understanding an civility among/between these factions! Any aspiring candidates, take note! We need some sort of revolution and kick these bums out.

Comment by Wumpus Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 11:16 am
Did the Governor sign “Jessica’s Law” yet?

Comment by Patriot Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 12:22 pm
I always think it’s funny when G-Rod calls them “corporate tax loopholes” and the DCEO calls the same things “economic incentives.”

Comment by Cornhusker Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 12:28 pm
Patriot, why not just go look it up at the GA website? This isn’t Google.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 12:37 pm
The governor chastizes corporate loopholes when he previously championed the expansion of the Illinois EDGE Program. Why is that “loophole” o.k.? I guess it all depends on whose loophole is being considered and what kind of headline it generates.

Comment by one of the 35 Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 12:46 pm
I agree a raise was fair, but 13 percent?

Again–we Illinois voters are soooo pluckable. When election time comes around, we’ll vote all or almost all of them back in.

If the corporations get out of this budget session with a only denial of the child care credit, they’ll be getting off easy. Real easy. In a blue state, no less.

Actually, the guv makes a good point. And with all that cash being thrown at them, are our legislators going to have the nerve to say no to health care for the uninsured. Are they going to have the nerve to say yes to a tax increase.
Maybe not. Maybe the guv does know what he’s doing.

Comment by Cassandra Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 12:53 pm
Rich: You seem a little crabby today.

Comment by Patriot Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:00 pm
bet you 20 bucks that the Governor will sign the extension of the film tax credit to subsidize Hollywood jobs that last a couple of months at best.

Comment by 4 Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:14 pm
Patriot, I’ve been a bit crabby all week. But, seriously, if you are really that concerned about the bill, go look it up.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:24 pm
13% for doing an excellent job on time huh? AFSCME and each of the other IL employee unions will use that same 13% when they start their contract negotiations later this year. Is anyone else outraged at this group who can’t accomplish anything but can give themselves 13% pay raise? There should be non-stop headlines and every media interview for the rest of 2007 should start with and stay on this topic.

Comment by North of I-80 Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:25 pm
I hope you feel better next week. We need you at your best. Congrats on finishing second in the State Fair horse race.

Comment by Patriot Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:29 pm
Maybe 13% will end up being an unlucky number.

Comment by Guy Fawkes Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:33 pm
OK…my nonprofit just received a payment for one of our contracts for July and August…I knew the July budget was in place, but it confuses me (pleasantly) that they’re making August payments. Has something happened I don’t know about?

Comment by Non-profiteer Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:37 pm
Once at the Fair I had four Corndogs, three orders of greasy salty french fries, two elephant ears, an ear of butter soaked sweet corn, and three lemonade shakeups. I was crabby for days!

Comment by A Citizen Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 1:58 pm
Talk about doing an excellent job…not. Don’t these raises go to agency heads as well. That means DHS and DCFS I guess.

According to the above article, Equip for Equality,an advocacy group for the disabled, claims eight residents of Howe Center died between September 05 and February 07 because of substandard care. Howe, run by DHS, lost its federal funding this spring (meaning we state taxpayers pick up the entire tab) and is now under federal investigation by the Department of Justice. DOJ’s interest can’t be good. But I guess Carol Adams gets a nice raise anyway.

Ditto DCFS. Over the first weekend in August, three Chicago children in separate families (2 infants and 1 disabled teen) died of child abuse despite being under current or recent DCFS investigation for maltreatment. This despite considerable recent legislative hoopla about reforming DCFS again. I guess that director gets a nice raise too.

As we have seen with the legislators, in the world of Democratic Machine politics, civil service compensation is all about politics and never about performance…every really bad performance.

Comment by Cassandra Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 2:04 pm
I don’t think it was the corn dog. More like the hot dogs running this show.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 2:07 pm
To Non-profiteer: I am pleasantly surprised to hear that you received your payment. I was told that the “end of August” agreement was only for state employee salaries, not for reimbursements, state vendor payments, etc.

Comment by From the Sidelines Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 2:17 pm
The local reps where I live are already being accused of losing the funding for things in our area. Don’t people read the newspaper and realize it’s King Blago that’s cutting things out of the budget?

Comment by JJ Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 2:50 pm
Rich, “…the hot dogs running this show. . .” Point well taken. One corndog couldn’t cause the pain those hotdogs do. LOL

Comment by A Citizen Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 2:58 pm
- From the Sidelines -
The way that budget bill was structured was that it was a twelve month bill and amounts with a one month term. Some agencies were smart enough to draw down more than one months worth of funding. Probably the case here.

Comment by A Citizen Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 3:01 pm
How about a little gaming revenue to pay for CTA, Metra, Pace, pay raises, healthcare, pensions, property tax relief, roads, bridges, education, etc. This money is immediate (license fees and slots at racetracks). I think if Springfield can solve all these problems without raising anymore taxes - people will forget about this budget mess. I know I would like to see Illinois rank a little higher on the list for states funding for schools (we are at 49!) and pensions. It seems pretty simple to me….

Comment by Capitol Bill Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 3:01 pm
After all the hypocracy, dishonesty, insults, and shameful ignorant double-talk this governor has hurled at us, I will not be a bit surprised the faithfull party sheep will follow and vote for this guy if he runs for governor again!

Comment by ChicagoDem Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 3:07 pm
I know I’m “grumpy,” but I’m also getting tired of this “sheep” word. A little respect for others, please.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 3:40 pm
How about “lemmings?”

Comment by Patriot Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 4:16 pm
“Grumpy’s” gonna send Happy, Sneazy, and Sleepy after you if you’re not careful. No Snow White in your future, you have tugged on Superman’s Cape.

Comment by A Citizen Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 4:22 pm
gov said he’d deliver the amend.vetoed budget bill by Friday. Anyone know which Friday of this year he was talking about?

Comment by A Citizen Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 5:09 pm
What makes you think he meant this year?

Comment by It's Broken Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 7:33 pm
-4- There’s no bill extending the film credit for him to sign. SB 1544 would have done it, but the House used it as a vehicle for the loophole closing. Maybe the Governor can use his “constitutional authority” to extend it?

Comment by Just Me Friday, Aug 17, 07 @ 8:58 pm
Look I think everyone deserves a pay raise but when Merit Comp employees received nothing for 4 years and this year rec only 100, 150, 200 dollars monthly distributed evenly through out each agency. Most of which fall into the $100 to $150 range I do not think it is fair. They received a raise & a COLA last year and Merit Comp received nothing. They do not recieve a COLA.

When can I vote on my raise?

Comment by Kat Sunday, Aug 19, 07 @ 6:46 pm