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Pantagraph EditorialSunday, February 24, 2008 12:48 AM CST
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Illinois needs short-term borrowing plan for unpaid bills
By the Pantagraph Editorial Board
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First things first, governor. Before embarking on any new programs or expansion of existing ones, the state must pay its backlog of unpaid bills.

Unfortunately, that will mean short-term borrowing.

Because of the state's failure to pay its bills in a timely manner, many Medicaid providers are being forced to borrow money to meet their own obligations while waiting for state payments.

As State Comptroller Dan Hynes said, "We're the ones who should be borrowing" and paying interest, not businesses that have provided a service and not been paid.

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, agrees that it's inappropriate for the private sector to have to carry the burden of the state's cash flow problems.

Some nursing homes and other service providers are still waiting to be paid for services rendered months ago.

Yet Gov. Rod Blagojevich made no mention of the backlog of bills in Wednesday's combined State of the State and budget address. And he hasn't made any moves to address the problem, even though it has been brought up by Hynes and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

A short-term borrowing plan would need the approval of Hynes, Giannoulias and the governor.

It also would require legislative action to provide the additional appropriation authority needed to pay the bills with the borrowed money.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said that as much as he is against borrowing - because it doesn't solve the underlying problem of overspending - short-term borrowing would give relief to Medicaid providers.

"We cannot continue to balance our budget on the backs of nursing homes," Brady said.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, agreed that the state's priority should be to pay current service providers.

"How can you talk about tax rebates ¦ before you pay your bills?" asked Rep. Brady, who said he frequently hears from businesses in his district that are hurt by delayed payments.

Illinois is "a dead beat state that's not paying our bills," he said.

According to figures from the comptroller's office, the office started Thursday with 74,603 vouchers totaling $1.2 billion awaiting payment.

Bills paid through the General Revenue Fund take about 25 business days to be paid once the bill arrives in the comptroller's office, according to a spokeswoman for the comptroller.

But these figures only include vouchers that have been sent to the comptroller for payment and are being delayed by cash-flow problems. They don't count bills being held by agencies.

This has been an ongoing problem, but it continues to get worse. It's not fair to the businesses. Plus, it has the potential to force some service providers out of business or cause them to turn away Medicaid patients - which would be harmful not only to the businesses and their employees, but also to the patients who need them.

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Reader comments on this story - 3 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Garfield wrote on Feb 24, 2008 8:53 PM:

" Payday loans! "

The Irascible Fachna wrote on Feb 24, 2008 8:38 AM:

" Reagan did it, Ryan did it, and Bush is still doing it - spending the respective governments into insolvency lest the Democrats do it first. There's a difference, though ..... the Democrats "tax-and-spend", while the Republicans "borrow-and-spend" - and then throw up their hands in horror when Americans do likewise and plunge the economy into a credit crisis. At least the Democrats will spend on programs that are needed, and long overdue. "

John Weaver wrote on Feb 24, 2008 7:38 AM:

" I urge you to look at "truthinaccounting.org". You will find the last time Illinois borred money it just caused more spending. When unfunded pension liabilities are added in Illinois is as much as 100 BILLION DOLLARS in debt. Lawmakers need to REDUCE spending and pay there past due bills. PLEASE don't borrow on my grand children's future! If a person running for office told the truth- they would never get elected, I hope some remember Judy Barr Topinka in the last governors race. "
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