Payment to state retirement system will be skipped

Munger says the unpaid bills at her office are approaching $7 billion and a $560 million pension payment due in November will have to be delayed, with the December payment also questionable at the moment.

Illinois has now surpassed 100 days without a state budget and the fiscal consequences have reached a breaking point.

The Illinois Lottery has taken yet another blow in a year when it’s already received a couple.

“Technically we never really get to a zero balance in our state’s bank account because money comes in on a daily basis from tax revenues, but in reality, we run out of money every single day”, Munger said.

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.

“That’s why we’ve been saying since May the number one issue was the budget”, Brown said.

Retirees will still receive their benefit checks, but a scheduled $560 million payment to the state retirement systems in November will be skipped.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders have yet to agree on a budget for the 2016 fiscal year, which began on July 1.

“The governor has compromised repeatedly, and it is now time for Democrats who control the Legislature to either come to the table with the governor to pass reforms that grow the economy and produce a balanced budget or use their super-majority to pass a truly balanced budget on their own”, Kelly said in an email.

“I’ve joked about offering to get a meeting together and bring sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies and say, ‘Come on, let’s sit down”.