 Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, laid out a plan Thursday
to borrow billions of dollars to pay off the state's mountain of
unpaid bills, then raise the income tax by 75 percent to pay off its
new debt. Cullerton said Gov. Pat Quinn and Illinois Speaker of the
House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, have signed on with the
borrow-and-tax idea.
If the Democrats' proposal gets approved in the last days of the
current General Assembly, Manteno Community Unit School District
could soon see the $1 million it has been waiting on from the state.
"I know these are tough decisions that they (legislators) are
working on. I've told my local legislator that I'm willing to pay
more in an income tax so that the children of our state have a
bright future," said Manteno Superintendent Dawn Russert.
Paying schools and others the money they are promised by the state
accounts for a piece of the tax increase, but the Democrats' plan is
much more bloated than that, according to Jeff Mays, president of
the Illinois Business Roundtable.
"The first question in a lot of people's minds is, how can they allow
themselves to get in that kind of hole in the first place? How can
we allow ourselves to be floating our vendors or our schools when
we're expanding programs?" Mays said.
Some have accused the Legislature of holding schools and social
service providers hostage in exchange for a tax increase. Carthage
Elementary School District Superintendent Vicki Hardy said she
wouldn't go that far, but she is tired of politicians playing
chicken with her district's funding, swerving to avoid a disaster at
the last second.
"We go back to our staff and say there are going to be this many
cuts across the board because the state tells us that is what is
going to happen. And then two months after the school year starts,
well, more money has come in, they found money here, which is great,
don't me wrong. But then, year after year, it makes (the
administration) look like we're liars," Hardy said.
Having the state withhold payments makes it hard to craft budgets,
according to Christopher Norman, director of finances at Alton
Community School District. The state owes the Alton district more
than $3 million.
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"The frustrating part is that if this continues, we will be getting
to a point where you start dismantling programs that are doing the
things you want to do," Norman said.
It also creates an environment of uncertainty for employees of
schools.
"I look at the human side when you give RIF (reduction-in-force)
notices to staff members, and maybe for some of our teachers,
they're the only ones working. That puts a lot of stress in their
lives, as well as 'Am I going to be able to make my mortgage
payments? Am I going to be able to put food on the table for my kids
next year?'" Russert said.
In addition to getting the state out of delinquency, the Democrats'
plan would create an education fund paid for by increasing the cost
of a pack of cigarettes by a dollar, according to Cullerton. He said there would be no strings attached to the nearly $377
million fund.
Cullerton said the tax hike would originate in the House, which
failed to pass an income tax increase in 2009 for lack of support.
The House is back in Springfield on Sunday and the Senate on Monday
to tie up the loose ends of the lame-duck session before a new
General Assembly begins on Wednesday.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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