Mike Riopell

mike.riopell@lee.net

SPRINGFIELD - A week before Gov. Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to lay out his budget plans for the new year, the official who controls the state checkbook is warning of big financial problems.

State Comptroller Dan Hynes released a report Monday saying the state is carrying a large deficit and could face more trouble with an economic recession perhaps on its way.

The general message is one Hynes has sent before, but Monday's report comes as Blagojevich's annual budget speech is set for next week. Last year, the governor's plans to tax businesses and provide health insurance to more people sparked a months-long battle that only recently ended.

"It is my hope that this sobering report will serve as an impetus for cooperation and determined action as the state enters an extraordinarily challenging period," Hynes said in a letter to lawmakers.

A spokeswoman for Blagojevich, though, said it's hard to know whether Hynes' projections are accurate because he didn't share the report.

"We just don't know how they came up with their numbers," said Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff.

She said lawmakers approved a budget last year based on "inflated" predictions of how much money the state would take in. If the state's coming up short, Ottenhoff says, lawmakers this year will have to act to find that money.

A spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, said the report's warnings echoed what Republicans have been trying to say for a while.

"It could have been written by Sen. Watson and the Senate Republicans," said Watson spokeswoman Patty Schuh. "These are not new concepts."

Blagojevich is scheduled to deliver his annual budget address Feb. 20.