A press release from State Senator Karen McConnaughay:
McConnaughay legislation honoring legacy of Judy Baar Topinka signed into law
Judy Baar Topinka
SPRINGFIELD – Late Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka’s legacy of transparency will be honored and preserved thanks to legislation sponsored by State Sen. Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) and signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner on Aug. 18.
In a ceremony dedicating “Judy Baar Topika Lane” at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, Gov. Rauner announced that Sen. McConnaughay’s legislation had been signed into law.
“In her long, and honorable career in Illinois government, Judy always kept the people of this state, and what was best for them, in mind,” said McConnaughay.
“As Illinois Comptroller, Judy sought to increase transparency and provide the public with greater access to state and local fiscal data by establishing the Online Ledger and The Warehouse.”
Senate Bill 903 codifies the Online Ledger and The Warehouse under the State Comptroller, ensuring that they will be preserved and maintained, and that these resources will continue to be available to taxpayers.
The Ledger connects taxpayers to state financial records and other official reports and analyses. Information on the state’s fiscal condition, revenue, expenditures, state contracts, awards and grants, state employees and other reports are made available
The Warehouse provides taxpayers with information involving local government finances. The Comptroller’s office collects more than 9,200 financial reports from counties, municipalities, and special taxing districts every year through this vital resource.
Karen McConnaughay
The Ledger and The Warehouse are both accessible through the Illinois Comptroller’s website www.ioc.state.il.us/.
Speaking at the fairgrounds ceremony dedicating “Judy Baar Topinka Lane,” Sen. McConnaughay remembered Topinka’s love of public service.
“Judy used to say that you had to believe in something to work in government,” said McConnaughay. “What Judy believed in most was the people of Illinois. By serving these people, and loving them like Judy did, we honor her memory.”
From the Comptroller webiste:
State BILL BACKLOG 8/18/2015: $4,594,113,037
That’s just a start.
Add:
1. Local & State Pension IOU (unfunded liability): $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$
2. Local & State Bond Debt: $$$,$$$,$$$,$$$
The result:
O-U-T O-F C-O-N-T-R-O-L.
There’s a lot of good information in the Comptroller Data Warehouse.
And on the Better Government Association website.
And on Open the Books / For the Good of Illinois website.
And on the Illinois Policy Institute website.
And on the Family Taxpayers Foundation / Champion News websites.
And on the Truth in Accounting website.
And others.
Yet we are a long way from quickly and easily understanding the true debt and IOU’s of state and local government.
We have major unsustainable problems that were unnecessarily created largely through trickery whose solutions will result in a lot of angry people.
US Published National Debt: $18,029,663,591,309.00
The Truth: $82,546,539,802,975.00
Your Share: $260,000
http://www.truthinaccounting.org
Add to the above, the present value of, future payouts for, state and local retiree healthcare, for which there is no assigned revenue.
Illinois has several retiree healthcare programs.
– Teachers Health Insurance Security (THIS) Fund.
– State Employees Group Insurance Program (SEGIP), which covers retirees and active workers.
– College Insurance Program (CIP).
This is not debt but Federal Spending.
From Open the Books:
ALL SPENDING: $3,222,825,422,724
CONTRACTS: $0,237,598,975,317
DIRECT PAYMENTS: $0,914,219,667,544
GRANTS: $0,366,287,289,137
INSURANCE: $0,004,319,007,239
LOANS: $1,921,430,966,767
FARM SUBSIDIES: $0,001,312,069,330
http://www.openthebooks.com
That is $3 trillion dollars all spending.
Thank you, Mark!
And what does the political lobby in McHenry do?
Propose to consolidate Townships to guarantee deeper descent into the debt pit!
BTW the phenomenal increase in federal government grants has resulted in the federal CONTROL tentacles to expand into every sector of government in our country.
We are now at the point where the federal government can now FORCE the building of ‘affordable housing’ where HUD decides it should be – regardless of local zoning laws.
Hopefully the owners of Fisher Nuts are paying attention.