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Comptroller says state has spent $174 million on COVID-19-related supplies

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Illinois

* This looks quite useful…

The Office of Illinois Comptroller has established an online portal showing the state’s COVID-19 coronavirus-related purchases and amounts spent on necessary supplies for the ongoing fight against the deadly virus.

The portal can be found at https://illinoiscomptroller.gov/covid19-information/.

As of April 10, Illinois has spent more than $174 million on purchases related to COVID-19, including such supplies as ventilators, masks, gloves, gowns, protective eyewear, hand sanitizer, swabs and more.

The site will be updated daily.

This effort is part of Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s transparency initiative to make state spending, revenues and other public data easily accessible to taxpayers, the media and elected officials.

“As long as this unprecedented public health crisis continues, my office will prioritize payments for the tools and supplies our frontline health care workers need to protect themselves, their patients and our communities,” Mendoza said.

“I hope our online portal showing Illinois’ investment in fighting this deadly virus will help drive home the message that none of this should be taken lightly and that people need to stay home and stay safe.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 11:25 am

Comments

I’ve been worrying that this number would be MUCH higher, but then again there are other statewide and local costs to the pandemic response which won’t be fully accounted for until after the crisis. With the current situation in DC, I doubt we’ll be seeing significant federal assistance to the states in the near future…

Comment by NIU Grad Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 11:34 am
That number seems low. That must only be for invoices that were sent to the State. More are coming.

Comment by Just Me 2 Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 11:44 am
Keep in mind this is only for supplies. It does not include contractors, doing IT related work or any other kind of work. And it does not include overtime for existing employees. That number likely would be much larger. It would be good for them to track all COVID related spending, not just supplies.

Comment by Smalls Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 11:52 am
@Smalls,

I understand where you’re coming from, but the labor and services details might take more time to determine.

Let’s see what the Treasurer’s office can do with this over the next 6 months.

Comment by Lynn S. Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 11:56 am
Be informative to know what approp lines this is being spent from

Comment by Eastside Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 12:04 pm
One of the interesting thigs is, is that in a lot of cases prepayment is required. That is not normal operating procedure for the state. You don’t pay until you get the goods. That rule has been waived during this period (thank goodness).

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 12:27 pm
I saw this statement underneath the expenditure descriptions:

“A coordinated COVID 19 tracking procedure for all state agency payments will be implemented to ensure that all expenditures and refunds are easily classified.”

Does this statement mean that this site will will eventually list State Agency-level breakdowns of COVID-19 related expenses?

Comment by Leatherneck Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 12:32 pm
I look at the numbers in two different lights;

First, the raw numbers. I see what’s spent, out the door, monies that are gone, used to save lives in Illinois.

Second I look at the spending and also grapple with what will be the revenue shortfalls, shortfalls we already know will be historically low and unprecedented in any way losses so great in monies to the treasury.

Here’s the deal… I know the costs of the first, I know it. It’s a bill, we pay, we know the costs of what this crisis is by this number at the end.

The second we aren’t going to fully grasp until those revenues lost are tabulated and put into what will be a devastating budget outlook, which will then, and only then, lead to those “choices” needed to meet our budgetary needs. Those choices aren’t going to be at all great, but let’s look at our first number, the cost, and see those monies in what they are doing to save the people of Illinois.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 12:48 pm
Meanwhile, DCEO spent a whopping $3 billion this year.

Comment by McLincol Tuesday, Apr 14, 20 @ 1:40 pm