A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff:

End of Session Review

Budget – More Spending

Pam Althoff

Another disappointment of the spring session was the record spending budget that was passed. With the bulk of the state’s “temporary” income tax set to expire in a year and a half, the majority and the Governor again adopted a budget that spends billions more than will be available beginning in January 2015.

The legislature adopted and sent to the Governor a record $35.4 billion state General Funds budget that is $1.35 billion more than in Fiscal Year 12 and $1.7 billion more than the FY13 budget as it was originally adopted.

This budget relies on temporary revenues, diversions and shell games to support permanent spending increases. Once again, the emphasis was on new programs, expanding existing programs and continuing to fund failed programs.

As they have done since the adoption of the 67% tax hike, Senate Republicans called for any additional dollars to be used to chip away at the state’s massive backlog of bills and debt, a strategy they believe would have put the state on strong financial footing and allowed the tax hike to expire as promised.

The budget also uses a one-time windfall, driven by federal tax law changes, to prop up spending. That decision will leave the state facing an even larger “cliff” next fiscal year, when the tax hike is set to expire mid-year.

The bi-partisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) has estimated that once the tax expires, Illinois will have $31.5 billion in General Funds revenues, $3 billion less than what the legislature and Governor plan to spend in the coming year.