Editorial: Lease spat emphasizes need for viable state budget

It's tough to fault Stephen Martin for his frustration with a tenant that hasn't made a rent payment this year for the space leased in his family's Brookside Shopping Center in Libertyville.

The tenant is Illinois' secretary of state's office, which owes Martin more than $46,000 in back rent but said it would find the money if Martin agreed to a five-year lease extension.

After putting up with more than a year of late payments - including no payments so far in 2016 - Martin declined, saying the deal was "almost a bit of extortion." The driver's services facility, which has been in Libertyville for more than 30 years, is now making plans to move to Lake Zurich.

The experience serves as a sad example of the state squandering the trust that should be the bedrock of any business relationship. And the suggestion that money currently non-existent could magically appear if a landlord agrees to a new lease hardly improves the state's reputation.

Martin is one of the many vendors to whome the state owes more than $7.7 billion amid more than a year of legislative infighting.

The recent passage of a short-term budget that funds schools for a year and social services for six months, pushes the debate until after the November election, but provides no guarantees beyond that.

Trust is and always will be a core component of business activities. Those purchasing services trust that quality work will be done on time and within budget, while those providing the services trust they will be paid in full and on time. Protecting and nurturing that relationship leads to fair prices, better work and quality partnerships. It's really as simple as that, except in Illinois these days.

The state's lack of payments causes a ripple effect for vendors, who have their own bills to pay in the form of employee wages, materials and other costs. Secretary of state officials said landlords generally have been understanding about not receiving on-time payments for the driver's facilities, and that speaks to the patience of some vendors.

But it's not the first rent squabble involving the secretary of state's driver's services facility in Libertyville, which sees about 1,200 customers a day for driver's licenses, state identification cards, testing, titles, license plates and annual stickers.

In 2010, Martin went public with a threat to evict the facility because he was owed three months back rent and expenses totaling nearly $43,000. The state paid up in about two weeks. Last year, six months of overdue rent was finally paid in December, but it took a supplemental appropriation approved by the General Assembly to make it happen.

Overdue rent also was cited for what appeared to be imminent closure of the secretary of state's express driver's facility in downtown Wheaton in March. However, the landlords agreed to renew the lease one day before its expiration after hearing from residents who were upset at the prospect of the operation closing.

As for Martin, he's still waiting to be paid for services rendered and now he'll also have to find a new tenant to fill the space being vacated by the state.

The state says it will make Martin whole for the back rent - at some point. That's no way to do business. Indeed, it's the kind of behavior only a true, longterm, responsible budget can eliminate. Lawmakers need to keep Martin's situation and that of thousands like him in mind as they work toward replacing the current stopgap this fall.