Pritzker Plans Nearly $711 Million In Cuts To Bridge Budget Gap

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced more than $700 million in spending cuts for fiscal year 2021 on Tuesday, which he said come after a months long and ongoing review of spending, with the state facing what a $3.9 billion budget shortfall.

The biggest cuts come in reductions in government spending, with $304 million in cuts spread across all state agencies. But the plan also includes more than $71 million in cuts to public safety agencies, including at the state's 25 Department of Corrections-run facilities because of a drop in offender population, Pritzker’s office announced.

The plan for the cuts, which total more than $711 million, includes a hiring freeze across state agencies, grant reductions and operational savings. Pritzker’s plans also include negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and other unions to identify $75 million in personnel cost reductions, which could include employee furloughs, the governor's office said.

As part of the more than $25 million in cuts to the Department of Corrections budget, Pritzker’s office said it will create a work group that will investigate facility closures to identify more savings because of a drop in prisoner population in Illinois.

According to data compiled by the Institute For Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability, the state spends an estimated $22,000 in operational costs to incarcerate one person for a year. The figure raises to $37,000 when other costs (employee benefits and pensions are added). The group reports that after the prison population peaked at nearly 50,000 inmates in 2013, that number has dropped significantly in recent years, including at the end of 2019 when 38,141 inmates were being held in the state’s 25 Department of Corrections facilities.

Now, the cuts to public safety budgets and others are being targeted by Pritzker, who targeted Republicans for failing to provide solutions to an unbalanced budget after the governor's Fair Tax proposal was soundly defeated in the November general election.

“From the beginning of my term in office, I've worked hard to bring honest solutions to the table, doing the hard things that must be done to put our fiscal house in order — including bringing efficiencies to lower the cost of operating state government, working to reduce the budget pressure of pension liabilities, investing in the expansion of revenue producing industries, and attracting our most promising economic assets — our college bound seniors — to stay in Illinois rather than go to college elsewhere,” Pritzker said in a news release Tuesday.

“I promised to be a governor who balances the budget and begins paying down the bills that my predecessor left behind. I promised to invest in education, job training and job creation. Before COVID hit us, we did that. And despite all the current challenges, I am confident we will continue our ascent to economic strength and fiscal stability.”

Prior to announcing the planned cuts in costs, Pritzker had previously announced the sale of $2 billion in three-year notes to the Municipal Liquidity Facility to help the state bridge the gap due to dramatic revenue losses due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Pritzker said Tuesday that more than $2 billion of the shortfall is due specifically to the pandemic with the remainder of the $3.9 billion coming due to an ongoing structural deficit in the state budget, the governor said.

Pritzker said the cuts will take a “real human impact.” In a statement responding to the governor’s cuts, however, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said that the budget issues were “self-inflicted” and said that Democratic leadership depended too heavily on federal assistance.

“Instead of living within our means, they attempted to trick voters into raising taxes, and were sorely rejected by Democrat, Republican and Independent voters across the state,” Durkin said in a statement Tuesday.

Pritzker said his Fair Tax proposal would have generated $3 billion more for the state each year but said that the cuts are now necessary as the state attempts to make up for the shortfall.

“These cuts reflect the first phase of our path forward, doing what is within my powers, unilaterally and without the legislature,” Pritzker said during a news conference Tuesday. “This is going to be tough. And as my ongoing conversations with General Assembly leaders would indicate, there is a great deal of work the legislature must do when it convenes next month.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.