Analysis of the FY2013 Proposed Illinois FY2013 General Fund Budget

This Report provides an analysis of the FY2013 General Fund budget proposed by Governor Pat Quinn on February 22, 2012. Many of the fiscal problems that have plagued Illinois over the last decade remain apparent in the FY2013 General Fund Budget proposals that the Governor and Illinois House of Representatives have put on the table. These problems include a significant accumulated deficit that, at a minimum, will be just over $7.7 billion, a failure to invest adequately in basic core services like educating our children or caring for vulnerable members of society, and an ongoing structural imbalance between General Fund revenue growth on the one hand and service cost growth on the other, that will only get worse when the temporary tax increases which recently passed begin to phase out in FY2015. Given these ongoing structural fiscal problems, the Governor has requested each agency receiving General Fund appropriations in FY2013 to identify spending cuts varying from five to nine percent from FY2012 levels.  The primary ramification of this request by the Governor is clear: the actual line item appropriations set forth in the Governor’s proposed FY2013 General Fund Budget are at best maximum potential allocations. Actual spending will almost invariably be somewhat less, as agencies identify the cuts requested by the Governor.