Comptroller: Springfield stalemate puts pension payments on hold

Comptroller Leslie Munger says the budget impasse means next month’s $560 million payment to Illinois’ pension system will be delayed.

Munger, a Republican who was appointed comptroller by the governor, says retired teachers, state employees and university professors will still get their pension checks.

“The monthly pension payment of $560 million is the largest consistent expenditure that we have through the year, and it is one of the few areas we have had some flexibility because it is not covered by a court order and the delay will not cause immediate hardship”, Munger said.

Despite the delay in the state’s payment to the retirement systems, retirees will continue to receive their benefits checks as scheduled.

The state has until the middle of 2016 to catch up on the payments, and the comptroller’s office expects to have more cash available during the peak tax collection times around the holidays and in the spring.

Illinois is now halfway through its fourth month of fiscal year 2016 without a budget.

“To be clear, this decision is choosing the the least of a number of bad options”, she said. “We have enough money on hand in the trust fund now to pay all the pension payments”.

Without a budget in place, the state is operating under a series of court orders, consent decrees and continuing appropriations requiring it to pay bills at last year’s rates, despite projections showing a $5 billion decline in revenue.

The state does have cash coming in, he said, and Democrats will be looking at how Munger used her discretion to determine which payments are being made and when.

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.

“State government is not serving anyone well right now”, she added.