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Government

Illinois Financial Situation Getting Worse

WVIK Staff

The numbers are bad, and quickly getting worse. That was the message today from Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger, as she urged state leaders, yet again, to work out a budget and fix the state's finances.

During a press conference in Moline, Munger said the state's unpaid bills now total 6 billion dollars, and could reach 8.5 billion by the end of the year.
Thanks to various court orders and continuing appropriations, Illinois is paying 90 per cent of its bills under last year's budget. Munger says that sounds good at first, but it isn't

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State revenue projected to drop 18% just in first half of the year.

The ten per cent not being paid includes higher education, student MAP grants, and retiree health insurance.

Munger says the situation is unsustainable and will only get worse each day without a state budget, and that "governing this way does is not really serving anyone well."

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.