Deadbeat State deadbeat as ever

With the holidays over, many central Illinoisans are staring down a mountain of bills. So, too, is their state government - about $1.7 billion worth.

That's how much Illinois owed at the end of December, according to Comptroller Dan Hynes, a record even in a state accustomed to carrying a backlog. Also a record is the repayment delay, at 34 business days, which means the state is essentially borrowing from the private parties who do business with it: office suppliers, landlords, vendors and, of course, health-care providers.

"It creates pressure," says comptroller's office spokeswoman Carol Hynes, "particularly for small businesses." Indeed, the longer businesses wait for reimbursement, the more strain it puts on their bottom line.

Inevitably this will put the hurt on the state's - read taxpayers' - bottom line, especially when there's no solution in sight. Thus it's distressing to learn that coupled with the bill backlog comes a less-than-rosy revenue report. The January edition of "Comptroller's Quarterly" indicates that while revenue from individual income taxes has increased, money from corporate income taxes has declined. Sales tax receipts were flat, growing less than 1 percent.

"An economic slowdown will create tremendous challenges for the state," the report reads, "and policymakers may struggle to construct a fiscal year 2009 spending plan with no definitive closure on the fiscal year 2008 budget."

Indeed, an 11th-hour tweak by the governor to this year's already delayed state budget means that the spending plan remains unimplemented. When it is put into effect - at some point it has to be, doesn't it? - the comptroller will have to pay a year's worth of increases in education funding in less than six months, one of the wholly unnecessary prices of the governor continuing to play games.

For an idea of how difficult that will be to manage, imagine a homeowner having to pay all of her property taxes in one lump sum.

Furthermore, two big-ticket items loom on Illinois' horizon: a mass-transit bailout for metropolitan Chicago that could divert $375 million in sales taxes; and a health care expansion which could cost between $225 million and $367 million more a year. Unless Illinois sweeps other funds to pad general revenue, raises taxes or makes substantial cuts, it will be all but impossible to resolve its cash-flow problem.

Knowles sums it up: "The state is continuing to spend more than it can afford."

Central Illinoisans understand that when they shell out more than they bring in, they face tough decisions. So, too, should state government.