BLOOMINGTON - The city of Bloomington's budget problems may be getting worse if state tax payments continue to be delayed.

The city is waiting to receive more than $1 million in payments from the state for its portion of the income tax, but the checks have not been sent by Comptroller Dan Hynes' office.

With the city's cash reserves already strapped, city Finance Director Brian Barnes said the city will have a hard time paying its bills.

"We could run into a major cash flow problem if this keeps up," Barnes said.

The City Council already has been struggling to cut a $3 million deficit from its $75 million proposed budget for next year.

Town of Normal Finance Director Ron Hill said the state is about one month behind in issuing state income tax payments to the town. That payment is about $260,000, Hill added.

"It seems unusual they would short Bloomington by that much and not us," Hill said. "My experience has been that when the state gets into a financial jam, they start delaying the payments on income tax."

A pinch in the cash flow could force the city of Bloomington to take out loans, which would add interest payments to the spending picture. How much that would cost the city cannot be determined at this time.

The city typically has a reserve of about 10 percent of its general fund to help cover its expenses while waiting for payments from either state taxes or local property taxes. About seven months into the city's fiscal year, the reserve for this year's $74 million city general fund budget is down to $4.6 million.

Barnes said they have enough in reserves to cover about 60 days of the city's bills.

Carol Knowles, a spokeswoman for the comptroller's office, said the end of the year is a time when the office struggles with getting the payments out on time. This year, the November payments to the state's municipalities are running a little more behind than usual, she said.

"It is a very delicate balancing act we have in paying all the bills we have coming due," Knowles said.

According to state records posted for the city of Bloomington, the Illinois Department of Revenue authorized income tax payments of $650,000 on Oct. 17 and a $418,000 payment on Nov. 16. Barnes said the city has yet to receive that money.

Knowles said the comptroller's office has been in contact with Barnes and is trying to get one of the payments due to the city released soon.

Barnes said the comptroller's office has been making the payments for the local use tax, which is about $70,000 to $80,000 a month for the city.

The state collects a variety of taxes on estate transfers, sales, income, telecommunications and motor fuel. That money is then distributed to cities, towns and counties in the state based on population or the amount collected within that local government's boundaries.

The total amount Bloomington receives from the state for its portion of those taxes is more than $3 million a month, Barnes said.