Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Illinois ends 2016 with an $11 billion in unpaid bills
Illinois Policy ^ | December 26, 2016 | Brendan Bakala

Posted on 01/01/2017 11:14:06 AM PST by george76

Illinois state government has left the people of the Prairie State quite the stocking stuffer this holiday season: an $11 billion bill backlog that is expected to hit $14 billion by summer 2017. However, with money from a June stopgap funding agreement set to run out by the new year, nonprofit service providers and students receiving state grants may view it more as a lump of coal.

Funding for service providers hasn’t been a priority for the General Assembly for quite some time. Service providers wait, on average, nearly a year to be paid. Illinois politicians have been delaying payment to service providers since 2002, valuing increases in government-worker salaries and pensions more than compensating those who aid the most vulnerable Illinoisans. Spending on state-employee pension benefits increased 586 percent from 2000 to 2015, yet funding for human services only increased by10 percent during that time.

...

The state’s total pension debt has swelled to $130 billion, up 17 percent since 2015.

...

Illinois’ tax revenues have increased 70% more than inflation over last 3 decades

A lack of revenue is not driving Illinois’ pension problem.

(Excerpt) Read more at illinoispolicy.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: debt; illinois; pension; pensiondebt; unpaidbills
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

1 posted on 01/01/2017 11:14:06 AM PST by george76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: george76

thank God Clinton isn’t President.

One of her first acts would have been to create a fraudulent “stimulus” as a back-door bail-out for loyal Democrat state political machinery like Illinois.


2 posted on 01/01/2017 11:21:44 AM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

NO Federal Bailout!!!!!


3 posted on 01/01/2017 11:21:52 AM PST by Cowboy Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Downstate counties in Illinois should start a secession movement.


4 posted on 01/01/2017 11:23:40 AM PST by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

11 Billion?

Illinois will soon be bankrupt.

No federal bailouts.


5 posted on 01/01/2017 11:23:53 AM PST by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small pittance)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

“Spending on state-employee pension benefits increased 586 percent from 2000 to 2015, yet funding for human services only increased by10 percent during that time.”

I wonder how California compares... and ny...


6 posted on 01/01/2017 11:25:56 AM PST by SteveH
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cowboy Bob

Wonder why Illinois leads the nation in ex-residents? Over 100,000 a year now flee the state for state areas like Allepo.


7 posted on 01/01/2017 11:26:37 AM PST by Kozy (new age haruspex)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: george76

The state needs to either negotiate with the pension beneficiaries or find a way to get legislation passed so the state can declare a BK.

The case for state bankruptcy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/the-case-for-allowing-u-s-states-to-declare-bankruptcy


8 posted on 01/01/2017 11:28:15 AM PST by doug from upland (Hillary, get the hell off the stage!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SteveH

...and even now California is a donor state, from the fed income tax perspective... so what, California money goes to help prop up Illinois and ny? Yet California allegedly also voted for Hillary...the irony...


9 posted on 01/01/2017 11:33:56 AM PST by SteveH
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: george76

Is Illinois the state that was selling lottery tickets but not paying out for the higher denomination wins?

I can’t remember which state it was. Ah, the liberal dream of the money must come from “somewhere” - magic and pixie dust.


10 posted on 01/01/2017 11:34:04 AM PST by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

I’m surprised after 8 years, obamao hadn’t figured away to “backdoor” dollars to his so-called home state of Illinois. Hmmmm, that’s right, he’s not going back there to retire and doesn’t need ‘em, so eff ‘em.


11 posted on 01/01/2017 11:35:19 AM PST by john drake (Lucius Accius-Roman,170 BC - "oderint dum metuant" translated "Let them hate so long as they fear")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Illinois has had trouble paying its bills for many years. A lot of businesses won’t accept Ill. Government credit cards just because they take forever to pay off that charge, and the employees don’t like to use their own cards and get reimbursed for the same reason.


12 posted on 01/01/2017 11:50:41 AM PST by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sphinx

Downstate counties in Illinois should start a secession movement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Easier for Chicongo and Cook County to secede. Northern, southern, western and central Illinois all republican and conservative. Why should we try to leave this great nation?


13 posted on 01/01/2017 11:54:31 AM PST by Graybeard58 (+++)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: george76

Just another one party city ran by leftists. Most cities that are destroyed and bankrupt are the result of “liberal” policies.


14 posted on 01/01/2017 12:12:01 PM PST by snarkytart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76

Some years ago there were breathless articles written claiming that soon Illinois wouldn’t be able to pay its bills and asking “WHAT WILL THEY DO THEN?”

Good times.


15 posted on 01/01/2017 12:14:53 PM PST by SaxxonWoods (Ride To The Sound Of The Guns)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Graybeard58

The state is basically owned and operated by organized crime. No, not the Mafia. Urban Democrats.


16 posted on 01/01/2017 12:14:59 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: sphinx
Amen, I'm there! You can win 3 counties and be elected Governor (Pat Quinn did). Just let Chicago secede, put the old toll booths back up and use 'em as entry checkpoints.

Without Chicago, Illinois would be as red as Indiana. Without Chicago and the stain around St. Louis, even darker red.

By the way, the Republican Governor (who beat Quinn) is now considered "stubborn" because he won't give in an just let them write more bad checks to pay all those bills.

17 posted on 01/01/2017 12:15:38 PM PST by bigbob (We have better coverage than Verizon - Can You Hear Us Now?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kozy

And I’ve heard that the black population of Chicago has sharply declined. But these black residents aren’t leaving Chicago for the suburbs as much as they are leaving Illinois entirely to go to other states.

But then we see how black on black shootings in Chicago have sharply increased even as population declines. Sadly for Chicago and Illinois, the most productive stable citizens are leaving, resulting in a greater concentration of lowlife or gang types left behind.


18 posted on 01/01/2017 12:20:43 PM PST by Dilbert San Diego
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: george76

A reliable blue state - any questions?


19 posted on 01/01/2017 12:21:46 PM PST by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: george76
Following California’s lead.
20 posted on 01/01/2017 12:23:07 PM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson