CHICAGO — Barraged with political advertisements about the state's fiscal mess, Illinois voters will elect leaders for two fiscal offices — comptroller and treasurer — in races overshadowed by the hot contest for governor.
Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, a Republican, faces Democratic challenger Sheila Simon, who decided to pursue the comptroller's office instead of seeking re-election to her current post as lieutenant governor.
Voters will decide between Democratic state Sen. Michael Frerichs and Republican state Rep. Tom Cross in the treasurer's race. Incumbent Dan Rutherford unsuccessfully sought the Republican nod for governor. Businessman Bruce Rauner won that contest.
The state's budgeting process and debt management fall to the governor's administration — with a majority vote of the General Assembly needed to approve a budget and a three-fifths supermajority to approve new borrowing — but both officers offer a voice that carries weight on state finances, ratings, and policies.
The fate of the state's 2011 temporary income tax hike took center stage recently in the comptroller's race.
Topinka has broken with her party and warned the state can't afford the expected loss of $1.9 billion of revenue during fiscal 2015 and $2.9 billion in fiscal 2016 when the rate hikes begin expiring in January. She favors phasing out the tax increase over a longer period.
"If you try to pull it all out now, you will take a $2 billion hit and you will cause the state to have a heart attack," she said during a recent debate. "You will also cause me to have a heart attack, because it would leave us high and dry."
Rauner and the General Assembly Republican caucuses favor letting the tax rates expire as scheduled.
Simon also favors phasing out the tax rates over a longer period, balancing the budget with additional revenue from a "fair tax system," like a surcharge on salaries of more than $1 million, and spending cuts.
The comptroller pays the state's bills and payroll and maintains state and local fiscal records. The office publishes monthly and quarterly reports on the state's fiscal condition and its reports on the size of the bill backlog are closely followed by analysts and investors as a sign of the state's liquidity position.
The state's backlog topped more than $9 billion in 2010 and is now down below $5 billion but is expected to grow as the income tax rates roll back.
The treasurer's office manages the investment of about $16 billion of public funds. The office also manages an unclaimed property program and several college savings programs valued at about $7 billion.
Topinka, a former journalist, won the comptroller's office in 2010. She previously served as treasurer between 1994 and 2007. She is the first woman to hold both offices. She also served two terms in the state House and served for a decade as a state senator.
During her tenure, she modernized some office practices and overhauled the website, launched a daily bill ledger and portal for local government finances.
Simon — a former law professor, Carbondale city council member, and daughter of Illinois' late Democratic Sen. Paul Simon — argues the office could be run more efficiently and with more transparency on how it prioritizes bill payments and bills herself as the reform candidate running against an old school politician.
Cross, a lawyer, has served in the House for 20 years including 11 as minority leader. Cross said he would produce a quarterly financial report card and is pushing to use the treasurer's office to hold the General Assembly and administration more accountable on the budget, saying he would sue if future budgets are not balanced.
Frerichs is a certified public finance officer and a former Champaign County auditor who won his Senate seat in 2007. He wants to increase investments in venture capital, would reform the offices' college savings program, and would seek an outside audit to improve the office.
A major issue facing both offices is their future structure.
The Senate in 2011 passed a measure to ask voters to consider a constitutional amendment consolidating the offices but no House vote was taken. Topinka supports merging the two while Simon believes the two can work in tandem to reduce redundancies and save money. Both treasurer candidates say they support consolidation.
