Editorial Roundup: Illinois

Chicago Tribune. February 2, 2022.

Editorial: Pritzker's budget offers relief, but the need for long-term fiscal stability still haunts Illinois

It's an election year, so Gov. J.B. Pritzker's annual State of the State/budget proposal address Wednesday had two missions. Serve as a de facto campaign ad touting his stewardship of Illinois through the pandemic, and explain, ideally in some detail, how his upcoming spending plan would make lasting strides toward wresting the state out of a long-standing financial quagmire.

Accomplishing the first mission was never in doubt. Incumbents heading into a campaign get the benefit of using their official podium as a vehicle for swaying voters. Pritzker dangled several carrots in front of Illinoisans reeling from inflation and COVID-19 fallout, including a one-year suspension of the local sales tax on groceries, a freeze on a scheduled gas-tax hike, and a modest property tax rebate that would provide relief for 2 million Illinois homeowners.

All of those will be welcome to financially strapped Illinois families, struggling with inflation and rising costs for the fundamental needs of life. Many of the social services providers in the state say they are finally receiving the kind of help in this budget that they've been wanting for years. And they're promising in return a marked improvement in the stressed social fabric of the state, a problem that extracts its own price in crime and poverty. We hope they fulfill that pledge.

But that second big Pritzker task? We're still waiting.

The governor proudly trumpeted a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that's 'œbalanced,'ť reminding Illinoisans that Republicans led by the Rauner administration saddled him with a $3.2 billion deficit when he came into office. 'œI'm pleased to announce that Illinois will end this fiscal year with a $1.7 billion surplus, the first of its kind in more than 25 years, Pritzker said.

He also patted himself on the back for putting the state in a position to finally pay its bills on time and get credit upgrades from two of the country's three major ratings agencies. It's the first time Illinois has seen credit rating upgrades in more than two decades. We're all glad to see that.

But pull back the curtain on those accomplishments, and you'll realize that they mostly were made possible by billions of dollars in finite, pandemic-era federal aid. The governor won't be able to tap that well forever. Once COVID-19 is firmly in America's rearview mirror, Springfield will be back on its own as it endeavors to keep future spending plans balanced and the state's fiscal outlook on an upward trajectory.

To call this Illinois budget 'œbalanced'ť is a bit like a kid announcing to his parents that his savings account reflects that he has managed his spending this year much better than ever before, while conveniently omitting that his grandparents wrote him a big check. Likely on a one-time basis.

A truly balanced Illinois budget will require a firm commitment to structural reforms to state spending, and that's glaringly missing from the rosy outlook Pritzker paints, thanks to the federal government sending out enough of taxpayer's money ($14 billion for Illinois) to make the states feel like they are awash in cash. Most likely, that kind of aid won't be coming again in a generation.

And it's worth noting that the federal aid hardly was limited to that $14 billion. Billions more in federal pandemic aid kept Illinois businesses afloat and tax revenues flowing into state coffers. In the future, any such revenue will require a climate that keeps new and old businesses happy to be in Illinois, which means Pritzker will have to help them be profitable.

The most critical reform, of course, still centers on Illinois' long-standing pension crisis, created by decades of Springfield politicians neglecting to contribute the amount needed to keep up with its obligations to those generous public employee retirement systems.

Last year, the state's unfunded pension liabilities stood at $130 billion. That's an improvement over the $144 billion mark during the previous year, but still a crushing deficit that wrecks Illinois' long-term financial stability, keeps its credit ratings abysmal and discourages employers from bringing jobs to this state.

Pritzker proposes a ramp-up of the state's annual pension payment by $500 million more than the minimum required, saving what he says would be $1.8 billion in interest payments in coming years. That's laudable, but still not the level of structural pension reform Illinois needs.

For years, we have been advocating an amendment to the Illinois Constitution that would essentially leave current earned benefits untouched, but would allow for reductions in future benefit growth to levels Illinois could afford. If Pritzker is serious about ensuring Illinois' future financial stability, he would push for a pension reform referendum to be put before the state's voters. Passage of such an amendment would save this state as much as $9.3 billion over five years, the Illinois Policy Institute estimates.

We don't begrudge Pritzker his 2022 budget celebration. But as the head of Illinois government eyeing another term, he also has to look to 2024 and beyond, past the expiration of federal aid. The big question is whether he then can efficiently deliver the promised services and supports that Illinoisans will need without wasting taxpayers' money on debt service or raising a tax burden that's onerous enough.

That is going to take some tough choices that ruffle the feathers of some Pritzker supporters. But what better time to start planning and saving for our shared future than when the state coffers temporarily are awash with cash?

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Champaign News-Gazette. February 6, 2022.

Editorial: Pritzker unveils his spending plan for new fiscal year

A smorgasbord of spending options - more spending, lower taxes - is now before the Legislature as it prepares for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week unveiled his proposed $45.4 billion budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, a package that includes election-year tax cuts, additional contributions to the state's ailing public pension plans and a my-way-or-the-highway insistence on doing things his way.

With supportive supermajority Democrats in control of the General Assembly, it's a virtual certainty that Pritzker will get everything he wants in his new budget. Nonetheless, he couldn't resist issuing a not-so-thinly-veiled warning to childish Republicans that they best follow his lead.

'œDuring this budget cycle especially, seats at the grown-up table will be off limits to those who aren't working in the public's best interests,'ť Pritzker said Wednesday during his sparsely attended budget address, delivered in the midst of a snowstorm.

In other words, no dissenting words or alternative proposals will be welcome at his self-designated 'œgrown-up table.'ť

Everyone who's paying attention, of course, knows that Illinois is in desperate fiscal shape. It's also no secret that the state's finances are stronger now - for a variety of reasons - than they were when Pritzker took office in 2020.

One reason is that state revenue continues to increase as the economy strengthens from the pandemic-related pounding it took. The governor said 'œrevenues from corporate taxes, cannabis, online sales taxes and income'ť are far exceeding projections.

He said that allows him to embrace both fiscal stability and spending increases.

On the fiscal-stability front, Pritzker vowed Illinois will contribute an additional $500 million over and above the statutorily required contributions to the state's five public pension funds.

With the funds underfunded by roughly $130 billion, the extra $500 million represents a drop in the bucket. Nonetheless, it's a welcome step in the right direction. At the same time, Pritzker is adding nearly $900 million to the state's Rainy Day Fund over the next two fiscal years.

The governor also proposes more spending on always-popular public education. His proposals there include a $350 million increase for K-12 schools, an additional $54 million increase for early-childhood education programs and a $96 million increase for transportation and special education.

A state budget, of course, is a hugely complicated document that covers hundreds of programs and affects millions of people.

So there will be more to discuss as legislators dive into the nitty-gritty details that cover higher education, health care, social-service spending, transportation and law enforcement.

There also will be discussion of the governor's tax-cut proposals. Considering this is an election year, perhaps it's not surprising that Pritzker is offering three small, and temporary, tax cuts - eliminating the 1 percent state sales tax on food, a gasoline tax freeze and a property-tax cut.

Suffice it to say, his tax proposals ring a discordant note in the context of Illinois' debts and deficits. They simply do not jibe with what the numbers show and the tax increases the governor sought during his first two years in office.

But it's still early in the process, and there is much more to be revealed. One thing is certain - budget circumstances certainly have been worse in recent years. That they have improved - however slightly - is more than welcome.

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Moline Dispatch. February 6, 2022.

Editorial: A plan for the future

In a few weeks, the City of Rock Island and the Quad-Cities Chamber will know whether the state of Illinois will approve a $3 million grant application, a key part of the $7 million plan to upgrade the downtown area.

Last month, the council approved $2.5 million in federal COVID relief funds for the project, and from what we've seen of the plans, they look like they'll inject some life into an area that has been languishing.

There are four major elements: Reconstructing the Great River Plaza; redoing Arts Alley; creating a gateway to Schwiebert Park and building a dog park. With the COVID relief money and other funds, about $4 million is available.

We hope the state grant comes through to complete the picture, and that all the improvements get done. It's always hard to tell from drawings, but we're encouraged by what we see.

We have to say we are happy that the thought of running a street through the pedestrian plaza has been shelved. A year ago, that appeared to have a good deal of support at City Hall. We're told, however, that a survey of area business and property owners showed they wanted to keep the plaza as a pedestrian mall.

We're happy to see that. We believe downtown pedestrian malls have potential, and we know the one in Rock Island has a great history.

One of the things we didn't see in the $7 million plan was a vision for programming this space with the kind of events and other activities that have given this area such vibrancy.

Jack Cullen, who was hired as the downtown director, tells us that wasn't missed. Currently, there are efforts under way to test support for a self-sustaining organization that would help with that, and to maintain the newly improved space.

The organization would be funded much like other self-improvement districts around the Quad-Cities, which raise money from area property owners within a district and devote it to that district's needs.

We support the use of COVID relief money for this purpose. Downtown businesses have been hurt by the pandemic, and this seems as if it is aimed at helping to alleviate some of that pain. (We would, however, like to see an overall plan soon on how the city plans to spend its $33 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.)

In the meantime, we hope the state grant comes through and this plan contributes to a better future for the downtown.

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