By GREG BISHOP
Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his budget address Wednesday amid a looming budget deficit of $3 billion. Legislators are laying out what they want to hear from the state’s chief executive.
State Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, said he hopes to hear the governor spell out his priorities for how to spend taxpayer dollars to navigate “during a difficult time.”
“There’s a lot of uncertainty at the federal government, how that affects funding for those programs that Illinoisans place value on, place priority on,” Martwick told The Center Square.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said Pritzker has been reckless with tax dollars by increasing the budget 32% since he took office in 2019, and that is not something that can be blamed on President Donald Trump, who’s been in office for less than a month.
“But when you hear [Pritzker] blame everything on President Trump, remember, President Trump had nothing to do with blowing up our budget over the last six years. That was Governor Pritzker,” Rose said during a news conference Tuesday.
In 2019, Pritzker’s budget approved by the Democratic supermajority spent about $40 billion in state funds. In the current fiscal year that started July 1, 2024, state taxpayers are spending around $53 billion, an overall increase of $12.8 billion.
The list of spending pressures on limited tax dollars are stacking up.
“We have to fix Tier II pensions, that’s going to cost money,” Martwick said. “We have a massive need to fix our public system of public transit and upgrade it, that’s going to cost money.”
Chicago-area transit agencies are facing an estimated fiscal cliff of $730 million in 2026. Pritzker said in December, potential enhancements to Tier II public employee pensions could cost up to $6 billion “over a 20-year period.”
In November before the election, the governor’s office projected a more than $3 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year.
Rose said one pressure that needs to be transparent is the spending on non-citizens, which totals more than $3.2 billion since 2021. That could be impacted by the Trump administration.
“Some of this immigration crackdown will actually help the state of Illinois too because you’ll have less spend on non-citizens, no thanks to Governor Pritzker of course, but that will actually maybe potentially help a little bit,” Rose said.
Pritzker delivers his budget address at noon Wednesday in front of a joint session of the General Assembly. The next budget year begins July 1.
