Macon Reporter

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is under criticism for his 2024 budget. 

Pritzker delivered the budget during his State of the State address last week. Accountant Stephen D. Daniels, a Decatur native who holds an MBA, said Pritzker’s budget misses the mark on pension backlogs.

“A recent article from an Illinois Watchdog (see link) heaped praise on Governor Pritzker for recent economic circumstances that allowed Illinois to reduce its multi-year backlog of bills of upwards of $10 billion. The backlog is down to $1 billion,” Daniels said on Facebook. “Keep in mind that estimates of fiscal 2022 budget revenues were close to $50 billion with a surplus of $5 billion due to these unusual circumstances. The fiscal 2023 budget surplus will only be about $1 billion. 

Daniels also mentioned that the report also stated, "Then on the cost side of the ledger, there is the unaffordably backloaded design of the debt payment schedule created in the 'Pension Ramp,' which was enacted in 1995. Illinois incurred this debt—which now stands at over $139.7 billion—because for generations elected officials in both parties approved the irresponsible practice of underfunding the actuarially required contributions owed to the state’s pension systems as a way to maintain spending on services, despite the annual revenue shortfalls being caused by the structural deficit." 

“Illinois is still in disguised bankruptcy due to horrendous fiscal policy over decades,” Daniels said. 

Pritzker has increased that state’s budget for 2024 by 11 percent over last year, Chalkbeat Chicago reported. The $49.6 billion he is proposing includes increased payments to schools. The budget is yet to be debated. But given Democrat super-majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly many are expecting no forceful pushback from legislators.

Other areas of expenditure include the state’s troubled Department of Children and Family Services. “Failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey said the governor needed to fire DCFS Director Marc Smith, who retained his position in Pritzker's second term. Smith has been held in contempt of court 12 times for failing to place children in proper care within the proper timeframe,” The State Journal-Register wrote. Prtizker’s budget also includes funds to increase the coffers of Medicaid and to expand the accessibility of broadband internet.

Wirepoints said Pritzker’s budget is largely based on an unprecedented $200 billion in one-time funds from federal Covid relief and does not tell the entire story when it comes to the state’s fiscal woes. “All of their celebrations ignore a simple fact. Illinois lawmakers had almost nothing to do with creating the state’s record budget. Revenues are up, deficits are papered over and Illinois’ credit ratings are improved for one reason: the Fed’s unprecedented $200 billion stimulus. The reality is, even after the federal bailout, Illinois remains at the bottom of the barrel nationally,” Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner wrote. Illinois has the lowest credit rating in the nation with Chicago and Chicago Public Schools in worse fiscal condition than the state. Wirepoints said Pritzker lied when he said the state is “strongest financial position in decades.” “The state’s credit rating was just two notches below a AAA rating in 2009. Since then, Illinois has been in a credit-rating freefall, dropping eight notches under Gov. Pat Quinn, another 13 under Gov. Bruce Rauner and one under Pritzker. In April 2020, Illinois was just one notch from a junk rating,” Dabrowski and Klingner wrote. “The three upgrades under Gov. Pritzker barely change anything. Illinois needs around 20 more upgrades to really get back to the ‘strongest financial position in decades.’”

Bailey a former state senator who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Pritzker in last fall’s elections told The Center Square he warned voters. “When I was a candidate, I warned people this would happen and talked about us having to live within our means or face destroying the state,” Bailey said. “What the governor is pushing is a bridge to higher taxes for everyone in this state,” he added. “He’s using COVID and federal money to advance his own agenda. There will come a day when these bills are due and the only way to pay will be to raise taxes on everyone or drastically cut services.”