IIFS Blog
02.16.12
Senate Hearing Sets Stage for Governor’s FY2013 Budget Recommendation
A week before Governor Pat Quinn’s FY2013 budget address, a panel of Illinois State senators met in Chicago to hear testimony on the State’s major budget challenges: rising Medicaid costs and unfunded pension liabilities. The Senate’s two Appropriation Committees held the joint...
02.10.12
Fiscal Oversight Commission Lowers State Revenue Projections
In its most recent monthly briefing, the State of Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) published new revenue projections for FY2012 and an early preview of its FY2013 projections, both reduced from previous forecasts. COGFA is a bipartisan joint legislative...
02.03.12
Five-Year Medicaid Projections Show Growth in Unpaid Bills
The State of Illinois FY2013 Budget Roadmap, issued on January 30, 2012 by the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability, relies on a five-year budget analysis by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). The HFS analysis is now available on...
01.27.12
Two State Facilities to Close in 2012
On January 19, 2012, Governor Pat Quinn announced plans to close a State psychiatric hospital in Tinley Park and a State residential facility for the developmentally disabled in Jacksonville. The Tinley Park Mental Health Center is scheduled to cease operations in July 2012, while the Jacksonville...
01.20.12
State Closes the Books on Last Year’s Bills
Six months after the end of the last fiscal year, the Illinois State Comptroller is reporting that $5.2 billion of FY2012 revenues were needed to pay off the State’s bills from FY2011. Paying off the previous year’s bills with current revenues is one of the ways the State deals with its...
01.17.12
Illinois’ Bond Sale: Was the Cost Historically Low or Too High?
On January 11, 2012, the State of Illinois sold $800 million of General Obligation bonds to support capital projects. The bond offering included $525 million of tax-exempt bonds, as well as $275 million of taxable bonds to reimburse other governments for previously completed projects. The...
01.06.12
Governor’s Three-Year Budget Projections: More Cuts and Looming Deficits
Governor Pat Quinn released a three-year budget projection for the State of Illinois this week that shows only minor improvements in the State’s financial circumstances in the near term and declining prospects for Illinois’ future fiscal stability. The budget plan, required by law to be...
12.29.11
IIFS Blog Provided Timely Analysis of 2011 State of Illinois Fiscal Developments
In 2011 the IIFS blog provided weekly context, information and perspective on key fiscal issues in the State of Illinois. Posts in 2011 focused on analysis of FY2012 Illinois budget negotiations, analysis of the ongoing Illinois pension crisis and timely research on other fiscal issues impacting...
12.22.11
States Reduce Automatic Annual Pension Increases for Retirees
In the past two years, nine states have passed laws to reduce automatic annual increases in pension benefits for current retirees. The latest example is Rhode Island, which in November 2011 enacted legislation to suspend annual pension increases until the state’s retirement systems are more...
12.16.11
State Grants Tax Breaks to Corporations and Individuals
On December 16, 2011, the Governor signed half of a tax incentive package that was sent to him earlier in the week by the legislature. The package of tax incentives had failed to advance earlier in the veto session. After splitting a bill that passed the Senate but failed in the House into two...