Kilbride Makes Court’s FY14 Budget Request; Urges Lawmakers To Make ’Rounding Error’
From the Madison County Record
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Kilbride has asked lawmakers to appropriate about $347 million in general revenue funds for the court’s fiscal year 2014 budget.
Kilbride appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday morning to make the court’s budget request, the third one he’s made in his role as chief justice and one he said represents a more than 20 percent increase from the state’s fiscal year 2013 appropriation.
Acknowledging the state’s tight fiscal situation and how the tough economic times have hurt courts throughout the nation, Kilbride said the need to be properly funded is “even greater now.”
He also reminded lawmakers that the court’s budget makes up “less than one half of one percent of the entire state budget” and said if they make a simple “rounding error,” they could fully fund the court.
“I would urge you to make that error,” Kilbride joked.
The chief justice also stressed the importance of properly funding probation, an issue that Kilbride’s predecessor, former Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald, pushed in his budget requests.
Kilbride told the Senate Committee that 29 percent of the court’s $347 million request for general revenue funding would cover costs associated with probation. The court uses a formula to reimburse counties for providing probation services.
“Why are we crazy enough to put that in there?” Kilbride said of the increased request for probation funding, quickly explaining that the court prepared its request at fully-funded levels.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Madison County Record
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Kilbride has asked lawmakers to appropriate about $347 million in general revenue funds for the court’s fiscal year 2014 budget.
Kilbride appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday morning to make the court’s budget request, the third one he’s made in his role as chief justice and one he said represents a more than 20 percent increase from the state’s fiscal year 2013 appropriation.
Acknowledging the state’s tight fiscal situation and how the tough economic times have hurt courts throughout the nation, Kilbride said the need to be properly funded is “even greater now.”
He also reminded lawmakers that the court’s budget makes up “less than one half of one percent of the entire state budget” and said if they make a simple “rounding error,” they could fully fund the court.
“I would urge you to make that error,” Kilbride joked.
The chief justice also stressed the importance of properly funding probation, an issue that Kilbride’s predecessor, former Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald, pushed in his budget requests.
Kilbride told the Senate Committee that 29 percent of the court’s $347 million request for general revenue funding would cover costs associated with probation. The court uses a formula to reimburse counties for providing probation services.
“Why are we crazy enough to put that in there?” Kilbride said of the increased request for probation funding, quickly explaining that the court prepared its request at fully-funded levels.
Read more in our daily News Update...