The state of Illinois has two weeks before it goes into a second fiscal year without a spending plan.
State Rep. Don Moffitt, who will end his 24 year career in the legislature, calls the budget impasse the most “frustrating feeling” he’s had in his time in Springfield.
While Moffitt supported Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto last year of the Democratic majority’s out of balance budget proposal, he says the state has spent much more through court order payments than they would have with the Democrats budget since the impasse began.
He tells Galesburg’s Evening News on WGIL the stalemate has effects that will be long felt.
“Lot’s of collateral damage,” Moffitt says. “It’s taking vendors longer to be paid, social service agencies could start shutting down. It’s real people and it’s real pain.”
Moffitt says voters shouldn’t be caught off guard by Rauner’s insistence on business reforms but it has been costly.
“He ran on a platform of shaking up Springfield, so, a lot of what has been done it can’t be a surprise,” Moffitt says “but shaking up and bringing to a halt are two different things. We need to keep government functioning.”
Moffitt is also advocating extending the five percent state income tax and phasing it out over four years.
