Downstate cities stand to lose millions in state budget blueprint

2 months, 2 weeks ago

Governor's plan to divert income tax funds away from downstate communities is drawing catcalls from mayors

From herald-review.com: Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to divert income tax funds away from downstate communities as part of his budget proposal is drawing catcalls from mayors and local lawmakers.

Under his fiscal year 2014 spending proposal, the Chicago Democrat would cap automatic transfers out of special state funds. That would give the state an estimated $241.2 million that normally would have gone to local governments, mass transit and other nonstate governmental programs.

For the state, the added cash would mean fewer programs to cut at a time when lawmakers are grappling with rising pension costs and a multibillion-dollar stack of unpaid bills.

“We’re all trying to hold the line,” Quinn budget spokesman Abdon Pallasch said Thursday.

For cities and towns, however, the change could amount to a loss of between $68 million and $140 million.

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From quincyjournal.com: Quincy Mayor John Spring said the governor's proposal could mean a lose of about $500,000 for Quincy.

"In addition to borrowing sales tax revenues the Governor's Office is proposing to cap LGDF revenue distributions using State Fiscal Year 2012 as the base year," Spring said. "In other words, cities and counties would not receive any LGDF revenue growth above and beyond what was received in State Fiscal Year 2012.

"Using data from the Illinois Department of Revenue I believe that the revenue loss would be approximately $148 million, or $11.50 per resident. That's a bad number for sure, I'd say approximately $500,000 for Quincy. That's a real concern. Keep in mind that this only reflects the "cap" proposals. Other proposals may still surface."