* Didn’t Dan Hynes suggest something like this during the campaign?…
The Quinn administration plans a massive review of more than 250 government contracts made under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to see if they need to be reduced or rebid.
The plan, which Gov. Quinn will announce Wednesday in his budget address, is to examine all contracts of more than $1 million each issued before January 2009.
This includes a variety of goods and services purchased by the state, from health care for state employees to food for prisoners, according to David Vaught, budget director for the governor’s Office of Management and Budget.
This should’ve been done right after Quinn took office last year. Better late than never, I suppose.
* Quinn will need to do a lot more than that to justify some of his proposed budget cuts, including a $32 million reduction to the Illinois State Police. Plus…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to fill the biggest deficit in Illinois history includes cuts so severe that 17,000 teachers could lose their jobs, thousands of poor families would get less help with child care and fewer state troopers would patrol the roads, a top Quinn aide said Saturday. […]
General education spending would fall by about $1.4 billion, he said, an 11 percent decrease. The “foundation level” of state support for each child would fall from $6,119 now to about $5,600 next year. […]
Quinn also will propose $150 million in cuts to human services, Vaught said. That means, among other things, less money for local organizations that provide child-care services for the working poor.
Vaught estimated 6,000 children would be affected by the reduced hours and tighter eligibility standards likely to result from the cutbacks. Many of their parents would suffer an economic blow, he said.
“If you take away their child care, you’re also taking away their job because they can’t work,” Vaught said.
Vaught claims that state employee headcount fell by 1,000 last year alone, which is something the governor is sure to highlight in his budget address on Wednesday. Quinn will also outline cuts in aid to local governments…
David Vaught, Quinn’s budget director, said [Friday] that municipalities across Illinois must “share the pain” by giving up a portion of income tax revenues the state typically shares. Instead of getting 10 percent, which amounts to about $1 billion a year, municipalities would receive 7 percent under Quinn’s plan. That’s about a $300 million cut.
And the governor will propose slicing the state’s pension payment by $300 million…
Vaught also said the Quinn administration does not plan to make the full $4.1 billion employee pension payment this year because the governor is confident proposed reforms will pass the General Assembly that will ultimately save the state money. Instead, the state will pay $3.8 billion, $300 million less than required.
According to the AP, Quinn will propose borrowing billions to pay off overdue bills. The cuts and borrowing will still leave a $5 billion hole to fill with a tax hike.
* Keep in mind that it’ll be tough for Sen. Bill Brady to respond to the magnitude of these cuts because he has already proposed a ten percent across the board reduction to everything - including federal funds. That 10 percent cut has already been criticized by his GOP running mate, and now at least one House Republican candidate backed by GOP leadership has come out in opposition…
[101st Illinois House District candidate Adam Brown] said he disagrees with the spending plan proposed by state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, the presumptive Republican candidate for governor. Brady proposes a 10 percent across-the-board cut to all state agencies.
“I don’t think 10 percent across the board is going to be effective,” Brown said. “I think we’ve got to look through the budget line item by line item and determine where our priorities are.”
* Related…
* State Senator Jones Advice to Schools: Plan to Cut Teachers
* No easy solutions expected in budget address
* Geneva officials explain proposed cuts
* Painful school cuts loom for districts
* CPS students plan protests against sports cuts
* Local counties feel state budget’s crunch: The state owes Union County about $300,000 and another $70,000 of back pay for money the county has paid the state attorney’s office….Franklin County is owed nearly $640,000 with the salary reimbursement at the center totaling almost $500,000.
* Illinois budget woes leaves circuit clerks with zero stipend
* Possible tax hike doesn’t worry product expo vendors
* News-Sun: Spending, taxing choices
* H-R: Blazing a trail to solvency
* New questions on state nursing home deal
* Blame state lawmakers for pension debacle, critic says
* Pension shortfall near $6,000 for every Chicago resident
* Safety is issue as state budget cuts free prisoners