Proposed FY 2014 Budget
Read the Senate Republican Staff complete analysis of Governor Quinn's proposed 2014 Budget. Also available are copies of the Governor's official budget and capital construction books.
Once again, the Governor is proposing a budget that relies on temporary revenues to fund permanent government services. This is same pattern that the majority followed under Rod Blagojevich and continues under Pat Quinn – keep spending more using temporary fixes with no long term plan. Continue Reading the Brief Summary or follow the links below for more documents.
Senate GOP Analysis of the FY2014 Proposed Budget
Governor's Budget Book
Governor's Capital Funds Budget Book
In his annual budget message delivered March 6, Gov. Pat Quinn laid out a $35.6 billion General Funds spending proposal for the coming year.
Once again, the Governor proposed a budget that relies on temporary revenues to fund permanent government services Senate Republicans said, explaining that the budget builds in expenditures based on the income tax increase that is set to expire in 2015.
Permanent Spending/Temporary Revenues
The practice of building long-term spending increases into budgets using short-term revenues has been characteristic of both Quinn and his former running mate, imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Although the temporary tax hike adopted by Quinn and his fellow Democrats in 2011 was sold to the public as a means of paying off the state's backlog of bills, it has instead been used to fund ongoing state expenses, even as the bill backlog continues to climb. Illinois owes $1.6 billion more in unpaid bills today than when the tax hike was adopted.
Education on the Chopping Block
The Governor's budget takes deep swipes at education funding in Illinois, both at the local school level and at public universities and community colleges. By making significant reductions in a politically- and publicly-sensitive policy area like education, Senator said the cuts were an obvious attempt to build political pressure for pension reform.
Yet, the biggest challenge to achieving pension reform in Illinois is not a lack of pressure, but instead a lack of leadership from the Governor. While Quinn has offered vocal support for the concept of pension reform, he has neither produced his own plan nor rounded up votes for other plans.
Group: Quinn's Job to Make Pension Reform Happen
As the non-partisan "Reboot Illinois" noted the day after the speech, "...as governor, it's Quinn's job to make it happen. So far, Quinn has a slim record of success in walking delicate and difficult legislation through the legislature's political minefield."
The Governor’s Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) proposal for Illinois’ operating budget totals $62.4 billion. Of that amount, $31.2 billion originates from General Funds. Included in this number is a $929 million increase for the state’s pension payment.
When spending items such as debt service payments and other statutory transfers are accounted for, total FY14 General Funds spending in this plan reaches $35.6 billion. This level of General Funds spending represents an increase of $1.2 billion over FY13.