Editorial Roundup: Illinois

Chicago Tribune. February 2, 2022. Editorial: Pritzker’s budget offers relief, but the need for long-term fiscal stability still haunts Illinois It’s an election year, so Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s annual State of the State/budget proposal address Wednesday had two missions. Serve as a de facto campaign ad touting his stewardship of Illinois through the pandemic, and explain, ideally in some detail, how his upcoming spending plan would make lasting strides toward wresting the state out of a long-standing financial quagmire. Accomplishing the first mission was never in doubt. Incumbents heading into a campaign get the benefit of using their official podium as a vehicle for swaying voters. Pritzker dangled several carrots in front of Illinoisans reeling from inflation and COVID-19 fallout, including a one-year suspension of the local sales tax on groceries, a freeze on a scheduled gas-tax hike, and a modest property tax rebate that would provide relief for 2 million Illinois homeowners. All of those will be welcome to financially strapped Illinois families, struggling with inflation and rising costs for the fundamental needs of life. Many of the social services providers in the state say they are finally receiving the kind of help in this budget that they’ve been wanting for years. And they’re promising in return a marked improvement in the stressed social fabric of the state, a problem that extracts its own price in crime and poverty. We hope they fulfill that pledge. But that second big Pritzker task? We’re still waiting. The governor proudly trumpeted a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that’s ‘œbalanced,’� reminding Illinoisans that Republicans led by the Rauner administration saddled him with a $3.2 billion deficit when he came into office. ‘œI’m pleased to announce that Illinois will end this fiscal year with a $1.7 billion surplus, the first of its kind in more than 25 years, Pritzker said. He also patted himself on the back for putting the state in a position to finally pay its bills on time and get credit upgrades from two of the country’s three major ratings agencies. It’s the first time Illinois has seen credit rating upgrades in more than two decades. We’re all glad to see that. But pull back the curtain on those accomplishments, and you’ll realize that they mostly were made possible by billions of dollars in finite, pandemic-era federal aid. The governor won’t be able to tap that well forever. Once COVID-19 is firmly in America’s rearview mirror, Springfield will be back on its own as it endeavors to keep future spending plans balanced and the state’s fiscal outlook on an upward trajectory. To call this Illinois budget ‘œbalanced’� is a bit like a kid announcing to his parents that his savings account reflects that he has managed his spending this year much better than ever before, while conveniently omitting that his grandparents wrote him a big check. Likely on a one-time basis. A truly balanced Illinois budget will require a firm commitment to structural reforms to state spending, and that’s glaringly missing from the rosy outlook Pritzker paints, thanks to the federal government sending out enough of taxpayer’s money ($14 billion for Illinois) to make the states feel like they are awash in cash. Most likely, that kind of aid won’t be coming again in a generation. And it’s worth noting that the federal aid hardly was limited to that $14 billion. Billions more in federal pandemic aid kept Illinois businesses afloat and tax revenues flowing into state coffers. In the future, any such revenue will require a climate that keeps new and old businesses happy to be in Illinois, which means Pritzker will have to help them be profitable.