While hearings on the requested budgets of all State departments are well under way, and while the House Republicans and Democrats have agreed to an estimated revenue number to plan expenditures against, there is still not an agreement on the ‘top of the line’ expenses. Top of the line expenses include the following (the numbers are current proposed amounts from the House Democrats, and are all in the millions of dollars):
- Pensions $6,036
- Group Insurance $1,362
- Debt Service $2,182
- Transfers Out $2,144
- Medicaid $6,908
- Old Bills $ 800
- Permanent Lapse $ (650)
This leaves a General Revenue Fund balance of approximately $16.299 billion, less a proposed reserve of $162,990,470 that is available for appropriation to the various departments. Federal Funds and Other State Funds (OSF) are in addition to these amounts.
There are significant pressures that we know of that must be accounted for from FY12 and FY13, as well as adding to the pressure for FY 14. Unpaid FY12 and FY13 raises associated with the AFSCME contract are approximately $140,000,000 plus another $130,065,000 in FY14 (it should be noted that in subsequent years the contract provides significant projected savings in employee healthcare costs).
Also for FY12 and FY13 there is $315,000,000 in liability for Community Care Programs (CCP, home services for seniors), plus a projected increase of $237,000,000 for FY14. In total, these cost pressures are $822,065,000.
A working group has worked on reforms for the CCP liability which passed out of Human Services Committee this week in the House. Should it be passed and signed into law, hopefully there will be a larger reduction in liability growth in succeeding years. However, as the Baby Boom ages and more people choose to remain in or move to community settings, cost pressures from these programs and others like them are going to continue to grow. It is estimated by the Department of Aging that by 2020 nearly ¼ of all Illinois residents could be eligible for these types of services.
If an agreement can be reached include CCP liabilities as “old bills” and pay for them with revenues for FY13 in excess of the base assumption, we can avoid draconian cuts to other programs in FY14, plus bring in new revenue from Federal matching funds. To that end, I have introduce House Amendment #1 to HB207 which was passed by the House and now goes to Senate, and will address the FY12 portion of the unfunded liability for providers of services to seniors in the CCP program. It also authorizes $151 million dollars for other Medicaid providers and will bring in several hundred million in matching Federal Funds.. You can see the amendment here: http://ilga.gov/legislation/98/HB/PDF/09800HB0207ham001.pdf
I will continue to update you on the budgeting process in coming weeks and will also begin to address specific issues faced by the Appropriations Human Services Committee which I chair (which includes, the Departments of Aging, DCFS, Public Health, Human Services, Human Rights, etc. and all their programs including Medicaid, Breast and Cervical Cancer, HIV/AIDS, mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, homeless services/supportive housing, etc.)
As always, I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. I can be reached at 217 782 3835 or greg@gregharris.org