BY LARRY SMITH
DANVILLE — “If the state were a business, we’d have to declare bankruptcy.”
State Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, delivered his blunt assessment on the current condition of Illinois’ financial state during a meeting last week with members of the Commercial-News’ editorial board and reporting staff.
“No one is focusing on the problem,” Black said. “It is a statewide fiscal crisis we have not seen since the Great Depression.”
Black, a veteran of more than two decades in the Illinois House who will retire at the end of his current term, pointed out a statistic from Chicago’s Center for Tax and Budget Accountability that shows the state will begin its next fiscal year more than $12 billion in the red.
The pinch is beginning to reach into many state and local services.
Danville District 118 School Superintendent Mark Denman recently talked about the potential for layoffs unless the state begins to meet its financial commitments, His concerns have been echoed by other area school superintendents, as well as Dan-ville Area Community College officials.
The Vermilion County Health Department already has made cuts, with more on the way if its financial status remains the same.
Efforts to resolve the problems have not spurred legislative leaders to act. Black said he thought they all were waiting until after Tuesday’s primary election before they decided on a course of action.
“We need to make an honest effort at cutting every non-essential cost we have,” Black said. “We can’t go to the voters (with a tax increase) until we do.”
He said lawmakers should look at all of the state’s services, from the number of aircraft it operates to consolidating offices to the wages personnel receive.
Black cited a recent article in Crain’s Chicago Business that showed the state’s tax revenue down almost $1 billion for the current fiscal year.
“Can there be enough cuts? No way,” Black said.
He thinks lawmakers could cut more than $2.5 billion, but that leaves a huge funding gap.
“I think we’ll see tax rates go higher,” Black said. “It might be a temporary increase — but I don’t think they can pass a temporary increase.
“We have to make good-faith cuts and reform the way we do the budget,” he said, “then maybe the voters would accept an increase.”
Black said he did not expect leadership in the House to start working on a solution until May or June “and maybe not until after the November election.” In the meantime, the longtime legislator is concerned about the effects of the fiscal problems on schools and services.
“We need to have decisions made,” he said, “and made quickly.”
