Common-sense solutions for Illinois' ever expanding budget problems

The budget woes in Illinois are going from bad to much, much worse. The lack of a state budget is creating a stack of unpaid bills to the tune of $9 billion and counting.

The longer we delay enacting real budget solutions, the more difficult it is going to be for us to get our finances back on track. It is time to put partisan differences aside and finally pass a workable and realistic budget.

The budget process does not have to be an "either/or" proposition. It does not have to be either A) we pass a budget with no reforms or B) we pass a budget with reforms. While, I certainly support initiatives such as property tax relief and term limits and other reforms, this budget impasse is doing serious damage to our state.

It is beyond time to find some common ground. A compromise approach might be to address the budget stalemate by only enacting reforms that directly impact the State Budget - only reforms that have an immediate monetary effect. For instance, procurement reform could save the taxpayers $500 million annually. Ideas such as exempting Universities from some education-related purchases and establishing a pool of approved vendors for certain purchases are just some of the ways the State can save money on purchases. This is a common-sense, money-saving reform that Democrats and Republicans can support.

Other reforms such as workers' compensation reform, relief from state mandates and other reforms could also save millions of dollars. Refusing to act on these common-sense reforms and continuing the budget impasse, only means our budget deficit is only getting bigger and bigger each day.

We could also explore borrowing the funds needed to pay the backlog of unpaid bills. This option may not be the best option but it is something we ought to at least consider. The infusion of billions of dollars into the Illinois economy could be the jump-start we need and could help produce additional revenue to offset the cost of borrowing the money. If we take these unpaid bills off the table, we will be able to get the budget balanced and begin to address the pension crisis.

No matter what, a basic reform would be to have a real budget process in which state agencies come to legislative Appropriations Committee meetings with specific information on how they could operate with 2 percent, 5 percent or 10 percent budget cuts. Instead, agency representatives come to these meetings and talk about all of the good work they do but provide no information on how they could operate with budget cuts.

Without a real dialogue about possible cuts it is impossible to prioritize our spending. This is why we need a more meaningful budget process. Of course, our agencies and programs provide great services, but we need to find out areas where we can afford to make budget cuts. Instead of "a one size fits all" cutting across the board, we need to establish budget priorities and make targeted spending cuts and focus on maintaining highly effective/low cost programs, and reducing ineffective/high cost programs. These discussions will be hard, but this is the only way we can have an informed understanding of how cuts are going to impact various state agencies.

We know this can be done because it has been done. During the Fall Veto Session, Democrats and Republicans came together to pass an energy bill. The legislation passed simply because both the proponents and opponents of the bill worked to find a way to get broad agreement on the legislation. They were committed to getting the bill passed and eventually they did get it done.

The energy bill approved during the Veto Session shows what can happen when the political will exists to get something done in Springfield. It is time we as lawmakers used that same kind of determination to get a budget deal done sooner rather than later. We cannot afford to keep putting these hard decisions off. The people elected us to do a job. Let's resolve in this New Year to make good on the public's trust.

Steven Andersson is a Republican state representative from Geneva.