SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) — With the future of further federal tax dollars for state and local governments up in the air amid the ongoing pandemic, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he expects something to materialize after the Nov. 3 election.
In Illinois, the state budget is out of balance by billions and Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues to hold out hope for a bailout from federal taxes.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday he instructed his team to stop negotiating until after the election.
“Crazy [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left Democrats were just playing ‘games’ with the desperately needed Workers Stimulus Payments,” Trump sent in a later tweet. “They just wanted to take care of Democrat failed, high crime, Cities and States. They were never in it to help the workers, and they never will be!”
Illinois, with among the worst state credit rating in the nation and hundreds of billions of unfunded liabilities that accrued before the pandemic, is one of the state’s Trump says is poorly run.
On Wednesday morning, the president tweeted: “If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY.”
“I am ready to sign right now,” Trump tweeted. “Are you listening Nancy?”
Pritzker on Wednesday, while isolating in his home after a staffer tested positive for COVID-19 last week, pleaded for federal funds to plug shortfalls in the state’s budget, which relies on billions in borrowing.
“And even though the president has apparently thrown the talks into disarray now that he’s on a cocktail of steroids coming out of the hospital, we are going to need this kind of support,” Pritzker said.
Trump was given dexamethasone, a common steroid used for a variety of treatments, after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week. He’s since been released from a hospital and said he feels fine.
Pritzker said he expects some kind of aid package will come together after the election. If the funding doesn’t materialize, Pritzker said agencies are being tasked with cuts.
“What our agencies are looking at is grant programs, they’re looking at their own personnel, and the hiring that they’ve needed to do,” he said.
The state budget Democrats passed in May and the governor enacted this summer relies on more than $6 billion in federal funds and income tax increases that haven’t materialized.
Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 13th congressional district, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, said it’s unacceptable President Donald Trump called off negotiations.
“People need help now and it’s time for Illinois Trump Campaign Co-Chair Rodney Davis to stand up for Central Illinois families and demand the President continue to work to find a compromise,” Londrigan said in a statement.
Davis, R-Taylorville, said the president walked back calling off negotiations. But he said he’s not in support of a state “bailout,” and any relief for state coffers may come with strings attached.
“Because of our state government’s ineptness in getting the initial funds out, absolutely there should be strings attached,” Davis said. “Let’s see what we can talk about before we start talking about what the final strings are.”
Davis said the Pritzker administration hasn’t released already approved funds to municipalities.
Springfield Budget Director Bill McCarty said following federal government guidance allowing already approved federal funds to be eligible for public safety costs, they submitted a request to the Pritzker administration, which controls the money.
“To get the ball rolling we did submit a claim for $29 million for our payroll for our police and fire,” McCarty told the Springfield City Council on Tuesday. “That got their attention.”
He said he’s since amended that for around $4 million, but didn’t have an update as of Wednesday.
“[The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity] has confirmed that all payroll for eligible employees (i.e., public safety and public health personnel as defined above) from March 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020, will qualify as an eligible expense,” said a memo from the Illinois Municipal League published Tuesday. “Any fringe benefit costs, which come as a contingent cost of the payroll, are also included as an eligible expense.”
Messages seeking comment from DCEO and the Pritzker administration about the updated guidance and when municipalities will be able to access that already approved federal money were not immediately returned.
By GREG BISHOP for the Illinois Radio Network