CHICAGO - Incoming Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's transition budget team last week released a memo accusing former administrations of relying on barely legal budget practices, including borrowing, that led to the state's current financial problems.
"Before detailing solutions, it is important to continue outlining to the public how Illinois arrived at the worst financial crisis in the nation - a crisis caused not by the income tax rolling back, but by the sins of the past," said the three-page memo, by Rauner's transition budget director Tim Nuding.
Nuding targets past borrowing practices, neglect of the state's balanced budget law, and the habit of increasing pension benefits while avoiding paying for them.
The memo says previous administrations relied on borrowing from various internal funds - including the fiscal 2015 budget, which borrows $650 million from interfunds - as well as selling bonds to cover pension payments.
In addition, the state in the past has ignored the Balanced Budget Note Act by failing to detail the fiscal impact of appropriations and increasing pension benefits while not paying for them, Nuding said.
"Illinois' massive budget hole is the direct result of previous Governors and General Assemblies giving away benefits they knew the state couldn't afford, deploying fundamentally dishonest budget practices and kicking the can down the road," the memo said.
The document did not include any proposals to address the fiscal problems.
Rauner will be inaugurated on Jan. 12 and is expected to unveil a 2016 budget in February.
At the top of the new governor's agenda are dealing with a fiscal 2015 deficit, crafting a 2016 budget, making decisions on whether to seek an extension of the 2011 income tax hike that partially expires Jan. 1, and preparing for the potential scrapping of a 2013 pension reform package by the state Supreme Court.
