On February 25, 2014, the Illinois House unanimously approved HR842 which determined the amount of General Revenue Funds (GRF) that can be appropriated in the next fiscal year (FY!5) to be $34,395,000,000. You can see the Resolution here: http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=842&GAID=12&DocTypeID=HR&LegId=81331&SessionID=85&GA=98
This estimate includes the effect of ½ year of loss of revenue if the income tax increase is allowed to expire.
As I indicated in my last update, once “above the line” expenditures have been deducted from this amount for items such as pension payments, local distributive fund, debt service, group insurance costs, pay-down of old bills, etc., the amount available to the Appropriation Committees would require a 14% cut in expenditures from this year. Since the resolution was adopted, public hearings have been held to determine what the effects of those cuts would include. Here are some key findings so far (hearings are still continuing):
Elementary and Secondary Education
- Reduce State Aid to Education to 65% proration
- Eliminate the Early Childhood Block Grant
- Eliminate 13,000 teaching jobs
- Loss of $175 million in federal Title 1 funds
- Total reduction in education funding from FY14=$967 million
Higher Education
- Tuition and fee increases in State Colleges and Universities
- Total reduction in higher education funding from FY14=$248 million
Public Safety
- Increased pressure from collective bargaining agreements in IDOC of $30.6 million
- Unknown costs in IDOC from class action lawsuit relating to behavioral healthcare in IDOC
- 2 new State Police classes requested for $5.6 million
- $47 million in costs related to FY14 winter (Road Fund)
- Total reduction in public safety from FY14=$303 million
General Services
- Continued dramatic reductions to non-mandated functions (Inspections, Testing, etc.) in Dept. of Agriculture.
- Probation services funded at 65%
- Increased costs of juvenile detention center probation including Cook County of $14.1 million
- Total reduction in General Services from FY14=$144 million
Human Services
- 90% of Department of Human Services tied to statute, consent decree or maintenance of effort agreement. These expenses cannot be controlled by agency.
- FY15 collective bargaining increase $34.3 million
- Over 95% of Department of Aging budget tied to statute, consent decree or maintenance of effort agreement. These expenses cannot be controlled by agency.
- As Illinois population ages, number eligible for senior services grew 14% from 2000-2011, but is expected to grow another 24.3% by 2030 to 3.68 million adults.
- FY14 in home senior care cost was $914 million, with an anticipated increase of over $120 million in FY15 alone.
- Total reduction in Human Services Departments from FY14=$719 million. (Do the math: if the FY14 allocation was $5.2 billion, and 90% is mandated, only $520 million out of the $719 million can be cut without penalty or violation of court order or consent decrees.)
These numbers begin to lay out the massive budget challenges that face Illinois this year with the expiration of the temporary tax increase for 6 months. The following fiscal year will be worse. Next Wednesday, Governor Quinn will present the General Assembly with his budget proposal and a five-year plan to restore our fiscal stability. We will then begin hearings and craft the State Budget in the House and Senate.
We have undertaken major reforms of Medicaid, our states pension plans (no savings can be assumed from those changes until court challenges conclude), a plan to pay down our mountain of old bills and reducing expenses….now is the time to maintain our revenues to protect core education, public safety and human services spending. I will support plans to maintain our revenues, close tax loopholes and shift the burden of taxes from those with the least means to those with the most ability to pay.
The weeks between now and May 31, when our new budget must be adopted, are going to be difficult and frightening for many Illinois families as we consider the choices before us. As always, I look forward to your suggestions and comments. I can be reached at 773 348 3434 in Chicago, 217 782 3835 in Springfield or greg@gregharris.org.