Rauner: State Budget Full Of ‘Booby Traps,’ ‘Gimmicks’
From the Springfield State Journal-Register
For the second time in three weeks, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner warned Tuesday that the state budget is in worse shape than anyone has previously said.
And for the second time in three weeks, Rauner said details of how he will deal with the budget problems will have to wait.
At a Statehouse news conference, Rauner said the spending plan passed by lawmakers last spring is full of “booby traps” that make the budget worse than it appears on paper.
“The deficit is far worse than has been discussed,” Rauner said. “Our financial condition here in Illinois is dire. It is very bad. Worse than has been reported. Worse than has been discussed publicly.”
Rauner laid blame for the budget squarely at the feet of outgoing Gov. Pat Quinn.
“Unfortunately, Gov. Quinn signed a budget that was broken, was not honest. It was a phony budget. It was not even close to balanced,” Rauner said.
The Republican businessman distributed a paper outlining $1.4 billion in additional pressures facing next year’s budget that he said are the result of “gimmicks” used to make the current state budget appear balanced on paper. That is on top of revenue the state expects to lose from the partial expiration of the temporary income tax increase.
According to Rauner’s calculations, the nearly $36 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 did not include money to honor union pay raises, did not include enough money to pay employee health-care claims and assumed an increase in the state’s bill backlog at the end of the year.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Springfield State Journal-Register
For the second time in three weeks, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner warned Tuesday that the state budget is in worse shape than anyone has previously said.
And for the second time in three weeks, Rauner said details of how he will deal with the budget problems will have to wait.
At a Statehouse news conference, Rauner said the spending plan passed by lawmakers last spring is full of “booby traps” that make the budget worse than it appears on paper.
“The deficit is far worse than has been discussed,” Rauner said. “Our financial condition here in Illinois is dire. It is very bad. Worse than has been reported. Worse than has been discussed publicly.”
Rauner laid blame for the budget squarely at the feet of outgoing Gov. Pat Quinn.
“Unfortunately, Gov. Quinn signed a budget that was broken, was not honest. It was a phony budget. It was not even close to balanced,” Rauner said.
The Republican businessman distributed a paper outlining $1.4 billion in additional pressures facing next year’s budget that he said are the result of “gimmicks” used to make the current state budget appear balanced on paper. That is on top of revenue the state expects to lose from the partial expiration of the temporary income tax increase.
According to Rauner’s calculations, the nearly $36 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 did not include money to honor union pay raises, did not include enough money to pay employee health-care claims and assumed an increase in the state’s bill backlog at the end of the year.
Read more in our daily News Update...