Illinois is too cash-poor to make its November pension-systems payment of about $560 million, the state’s comptroller said Wednesday. Comptroller Leslie Munger today said Illinois is “for all intents and purposes out of money” as billions of dollars in bills keep piling up and a major pension payment will not be made on time.
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The pension delay underscores the severity of Illinois’ fiscal crisis, which has been exacerbated by the lack of a state budget.
Citing the budget stalemate, Munger said the state doesn’t have enough money to make the pension payment, but said retirees will still be getting their checks. She used the following comparison to highlight just how bad the state’s cash shortage is: Imagine that you have $7,000 in bills on your kitchen table and only $142 on hand.
However, money is still being allocated through state laws and consent decrees at last year’s rates.
Steve Brown, spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, said the sole responsibility for the state’s cash flow problems rests with Rauner, who vetoed all but the school funding budget passed by the legislature.
“Like a household that is drowning in debt, we use whatever funds we can to fend off the creditors for one more day”, she said.
There’s a possibility the state’s December pension payment could also be postponed, Munger said.
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly responded, “The fiscal challenges facing the state are the direct result of the legislature’s decision to pass an out-of-balance budget that is more than $4 billion in the hole”. Munger says she continued a monthly approach used by her predecessor, the late Judy Baar Topinka.
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Munger said putting off the pension payments was “choosing the least of a number of bad options”, as Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly have been unable to reach a budget deal.
