Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger said on Wednesday that Illinois will have to delay a November payment of $560 million to pension funds.
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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”.
Retirees will still receive their benefit checks, but a scheduled $560 million payment to the state retirement systems in November will be skipped. “We will use every available dollar in the higher-revenue months this spring to catch up with our commitments and ensure that our retirement systems are paid in full”. “But the fact is that our state simply does not have the revenue to meet its obligations”, Munger said. She said her office is also required under 14 court orders and federal consent decrees to make payroll and pay for certain healthcare and social services at fiscal 2015 funding levels even though fiscal 2016 revenue will be $5 billion less due to lower income tax rates that took effect on January 1.
She urged the Illinois House and Senate to come up with a balanced budget before the state’s funds get worse.
Munger hopes the need for this move motivates Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner to reach a budget agreement, though she personally remains supportive of Rauner’s so-called “turnaround agenda”.
Brown said “the speaker’s position continues to be that the budget is the No. 1 issue in the state that needs to be addressed”.
Munger, a Republican who was appointed comptroller by the governor, says retired teachers, state employees and university professors will still get their pension checks.
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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.
