Tag: state debt

Keep fiscal responsibility in Illinois’ next budget

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/2/6/22917731/pritzker-budget-legislature-pensions-college-illinois-health-insurance-editorial

Excerpt:

For example, Pritzker wants to set aside $500 million to pre-pay pensions. To do that, he would take $300 million out of the unexpected extra revenue this year, and $200 millino will come out of the 2023 General Fund budget.

In Illinois politics, pension underfunding is like the weather. Everyone complains, but no one does anything about it. Why? It’s hard to do, and laboring to fix pensions doesn’t resonate with voters. There is little political bang for the buck. That’s why state pensions have been underfunded year after year for a century.

There is value in prepaying pension debt beyond what is required by the so-called ramp, as Pritzker proposes. Because of double compounding — less money must be borrowed to be repaid with interest and investments on the added money yield more returns — $500 million spent now will save the state $1.8 billion later.

Author(s): Editorial Board

Publication Date: 6 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Chicago Sun-Times

Pritzker budget proposal to include extra $500 million in pension payments

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/2/2/22914390/pritzker-budget-proposal-illinois-2023-general-assembly-spending-debt-pensions

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Excerpt:

Citing an improved economic outlook in the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s latest budget proposal will devote an extra $500 million to Illinois’ nearly insolvent pension funds, pump $200 million into a “rainy day” fund and tamp down the state’s unpaid bill backlog — all while providing $1 billion in tax cuts, freezes and rebates, administration officials said Wednesday.

Pritzker was scheduled to outline the ambitious $45.4 billion election-year spending plan during his “State of the State” speech at noon in Springfield, in a downsized event held at the Old State Capitol Building due to a massive winter storm sweeping the state.

In a media preview ahead of the speech, the governor’s top advisers claimed the new spending plan keeps the state on track to end in the black for back-to-back years for the first time in 25 years.

Author(s): Mitchell Armentrout

Publication Date: 2 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Chicago Sun-Times

ILLINOIS FORWARD 2023: ONLY PENSION, BUDGET REFORM CAN SAVE TAXPAYERS WHEN FEDERAL AID ENDS

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/illinois-forward-2023-only-pension-budget-reform-can-save-taxpayers-when-federal-aid-ends/

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Excerpt:

Spending in the state budget actually has increased – significantly – under Gov. J.B. Pritzker relative to baseline expectations in the state budget. Even if lawmakers and the governor make no further increases to spending in the fiscal year 2023 budget, which is unlikely given that Pritzker has proposed spending increases in each February budget address of his term, then total spending during Pritzker’s first term will be up nearly $5 billion, or 3% higher than when he took office.

Author(s): Adam Schuster

Publication Date: accessed 2 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Illinois Policy Institute

CT to borrow over $1.3 billion to fund a long list of state, local projects

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://ctmirror.org/2021/12/21/ct-to-borrow-over-1-3-billion-to-fund-a-long-list-of-state-local-projects/

Excerpt:

Gov. Ned Lamont helped to hand out more than $1.3 billion on Tuesday by voting to have the state borrow money to pay for various infrastructure projects, state grant programs, improvements at a mental health center in Bridgeport and a new train station in Enfield.

In total, the State Bond Commission, which Lamont leads, agreed to fund more than 50 different projects, programs and initiatives — some of which were championed by state lawmakers who are heading into a campaign season next year and are eager to bring home financial wins to their district.

….

The more than $1 billion in spending that was approved Tuesday will be financed through state revenue and general obligation bonds, which Connecticut officials market to Wall Street investors and will eventually need to repay with interest.

Connecticut frequently relies on that type of borrowing capacity to finance school construction efforts, capital projects at state universities, transportation upgrades, building maintenance projects, land preservation deals and the smaller community projects that often benefit state legislators. This week’s meeting marked the third bond commission gathering this year.

State legislators largely control the first step in the borrowing process by adopting a two-year bond package, but after that, the governor and the executive branch get to decide what gets funded and when.

Author(s): Andrew Brown

Publication Date: 21 Dec 2021

Publication Site: CT Mirror

New Jersey Taxpayers ‘On the Hook’ for Massive Debt: Report

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.theepochtimes.com/new-jersey-taxpayers-on-the-hook-for-massive-debt-report_4139948.html

Excerpt:

New Jersey has amassed a huge, and possibly dangerous, level of debt, according to a new report that reviews the financial health of state governments across the country.

Each Garden State taxpayer owes tens of thousands of dollars and the state is a tax “sinkhole,” according to the nonprofit organization Truth in Accounting (TIA), because state lawmakers of both parties have overspent and used accounting “gimmicks” for decades. The organization defines “sinkholes” as states that lack the necessary funds to pay their bills.

….

The S&P report also gives New Jersey a low grade on debt practices.

“On our scale of ‘1.0’ to ‘4.0’, where ‘1.0’ is the strongest score and ‘4.0’ the weakest, we have assigned a composite score of ‘3.7’ to New Jersey’s debt and liability profile,” according to S&P.

Moody’s, in its July 14 report, gave New Jersey an A3 rating on its general obligation (GO) bonds, a low rating. But it praised recent efforts by  Murphy to solve the problems of long-term debt.

….

Fitch Ratings, in its April 13 report, gives New Jersey an A- grade. It said its rating reflects New Jersey’s “adequate financial resilience.” But it also said that its condition isn’t as good as that of most states, and stirs up some troublesome ghosts.

Author(s): Gregory Bresiger

Publication Date: 8 Dec 2021

Publication Site: Epoch Times

Revisualizing the Financial State of the States: 2021 edition

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/revisualizing-the-financial-state

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Excerpt:

One large benefit of a tile grid map is you can see the geographically small states, which are often more obscured when you a geographically accurate map.

When viewed in this way, with the states colored by their grades, you can see that there’s a Northeastern Rogue’s Gallery, in addition to the expected stinkers of Illinois, Kentucky, and California (also, Hawaii, but many people don’t expect that one.)

But I want to point out that a lot of “red” states, in the political sense, also have crappy finances.

Texas is a particularly bad offender here, with a taxpayer deficit of -$13,100 per taxpayer. It’s not just the “expected” states where pensions are grossly underfunded — mind you, pretty much every single taxpayer sinkhole here has grossly underfunded state-level pensions — but it is a widespread problem.

Author(s): Mary Pat Campbell

Publication Date: 29 Sept 2021

Publication Site: STUMP at substack

National Public Pension Coalition vs. Truth in Accounting: Who is Accurate With Public Pension Unfunded Debt?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/national-public-pension-coalition

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Excerpt:

NPPC, I recommend you think through what will actually inform and protect your members. The TIA folks are not distorting the message, except to the extent that state and local governments are undervaluing their pension and OPEB promises.

Complaining about TIA will not make the pensions better-funded. Complaining about TIA will not prevent the worst-funded pensions from running out of assets, which will not be supportable as pay-as-you-go, as the asset death spiral before that will show that the cash flows were unaffordable for the local tax base.

And don’t look to the federal government to save your hash. So far bailout amounts have been puny compared to the size of the promises.

Author(s): Mary Pat Campbell

Publication Date: 9 June 2021

Publication Site: STUMP at substack

Did IL state lawmakers unconstitutionally borrow billions of dollars? IL Supreme Court to decide

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/580283019-did-il-state-lawmakers-unconstitutionally-borrow-billions-of-dollars-il-supreme-court-to-decide

Excerpt:

Tillman, of suburban Golf, centered his claims on Article IX Section 9(b) of the Illinois state constitution. Tillman argued that provision of the state constitution limits the state’s ability to borrow money.

The complaint particularly focuses on text requiring lawmakers to identify “specific purposes” for debt when issuing new long-term bonds. Tillman argues that “specific purposes” clause should be read to forbid state lawmakers from borrowing money to finance deficits or “plug holes” in the state’s budget, such as the shortfall faced by the state when funding pension obligations.

Tillman has argued lawmakers in both 2003 and 2017 failed to identify “specific purposes” when it issued bonds, and then unconstitutionally assigned to the state comptroller the power to decide how the borrowed money was spent.

Author(s): Jonathan Bilyk

Publication Date: 19 March 2021

Publication Site: Cook County Record