With no budget in place, Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger says the state’s backlog of unpaid bills could reach more than 8.5 billion dollars by the end of the year. Right now the state has about 6 billion dollars worth of bills that need to be paid, but Munger expects that to grow substantially. She says part of the problem is that consent decrees and court rulings are ordering her to make payments for about 90 percent of the state budget.
Munger says spending at last year’s levels is a problem since revenues are expected to be down by 18 percent for the first half of this fiscal year. She urges lawmakers to pass a balanced budget.