Local state Reps. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, and Daniel Beiser, D-Alton, are still getting paid even though the state still does not have a balanced budget.
Newly released census data show more than 5,100 Lake County residents moved to other U.S. locales last year, causing the county’s population to shrink.
Newly released census data show more than 9,100 DuPage County residents moved to other U.S. locales last year, causing the county’s population to shrink.
Numbers from the March WARN report show that employers in Illinois across various industries laid off 2,573 workers; 267 of the layoffs were in manufacturing.
State Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorne Woods, filed legislation March 23 that would give the Illinois Comptroller’s office discretion to delay payments to lawmakers if insufficient funding exists to do so. This came just hours after a Cook County judge said lawmakers must be paid.
In 2010, the unfunded debt related to pensions and retiree health care costs for local and state government workers across Illinois was $203 billion, the equivalent of more than $43,000 per household. In just six years, the total debt Illinois households are on the hook for has jumped to $56,000, or 31 percent. That’s a $13,000 increase for each household. Total unfunded debt for state and local governments in Illinois now totals $267 billion.
Springfield lawmakers passed a ceremonial resolution March 8 congratulating the Chicago Cubs on winning the 2016 World Series. But that pat on the back doesn’t make up for the adversarial relationship politicians have held with the Cubs and other professional sports franchises in Chicago.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.