Illinois Financial Situation Getting Worse

Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger says the numbers continue to worsen.  In a visit to the Quad Cities Tuesday, she urged state leaders again work out a budget and fix the state’s finances. 

During a press conference in Moline, Munger said the state's unpaid bills now total $6-billion, and could reach $8.5-billion by the end of the year.

"We are fielding more than 5,000 phone calls every week to our budget hotline from businesses and organizations," she said.  "They're confused, they're wondering if they're going to be paid, if they are, when they will be paid.  We're really doing everything we can, and made it a priority to try and help them."

Thanks to various court orders and continuing appropriations, Illinois is paying 90 per cent of its bills under last year's budget. Munger says that sounds good at first, but it really isn't.

The ten percent not being paid includes higher education, student MAP grants, and retiree health insurance.

Munger says the situation is unsustainable and will only get worse each day without a state budget, and that "governing this way does is not really serving anyone well."