Illinois' fiscal year 2023 shortfall was reduced from $2.9 billion to $406 million. | Adobe Stock
Illinois' fiscal year 2023 shortfall was reduced from $2.9 billion to $406 million. | Adobe Stock
Illinois state Sen. Jason Plummer voiced his concerns about his state’s financial situation after seeing projections for the next five years from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Office of Management and Budget.
The office reported that the next five years show tax revenues up and projected deficits down, but there are still significant shortfalls.
“The forecasted fiscal year 2023 shortfall was reduced from $2.9 billion, as estimated in 2019, to $406 million, and the 2024 shortfall was reduced from $3.2 billion, as estimated in 2019, to a deficit of $820 million,” according to the report.
Plummer took to Facebook and claimed the financial situation stems from “sheer incompetence.”
“(Gov.) J.B. is woke, and the State of Illinois is broke,” Plummer wrote on Facebook. “If you thought our state’s finances were bad a couple years ago, wait until all the federal money dries up. (Pritzker) will be gone, and you'll be left holding the bag. This is complete negligence and I will continue to sound the alarm. Through sheer incompetence, or perhaps because he just cares about his time as governor and not the future of the people in Illinois, Pritzker is fumbling our recovery and making a bad fiscal situation much worse. How they can trumpet these things with a straight face is amazing — and highlights how poorly the media covers our state's finances. The governor, and his Democrat allies, are blowing federal dollars, creating new programs that are not sustainable, and neglecting to address the core problems that are crushing our state's economy and Illinois taxpayers.”
In response to the report, Pritzker said he and the state’s general assembly have been trying to put Illinois on the right fiscal path.
“With our partners in the General Assembly, we’ve made tremendous progress in putting Illinois on the right fiscal path, supporting small businesses and creating good jobs in every part of our state,” Pritzker said in a statement announcing the report, according to The Center Square.
But even with the money coming in from the federal government, Illinois will still be in trouble in the future, the news outlet reported.
Earlier this month, Plummer endorsed Steve McClure in the Senator's run for a new district, calling him a leader in the Republican Caucus, according to the South Central Reporter. Plummer also sparred with Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez in a Senate Redistricting Committee hearing in October.
Alerts Sign-up