Budget

FIXING THE ILLINOIS STATE BUDGET

First and foremost, as Governor, Adam Andrzejewski will make sure Illinois citizens will be able to see every dollar the state spends.

Institute a Forensic Audit on Every Budget Item, Agency, and Grant.

Principles Adam will follow when making budget decisions

Institute a moratorium on all new programs. No new programs will be signed into law until and unless long term funding for that program is secured.
Eliminate redundancy to streamline government functions, thus reducing the cost of government.
Stop the practice of creating and funding bureaucracies. Institute and/or expand the practice that money follows the person served.

WHY FIXING THE BUDGET IS IMPORTANT

Virtually every problem confronting Illinois - whether it is the Thomson prison deal, closing parks, or the inability to fund our service providers - stems from the utter mismanagement of tax payer dollars. This mismanagement is bipartisan, as the culture in Springfield is one of diverting resources to spending interests and insiders first. That culture must be changed, and it won't be changed by someone from that culture.

WHY SPENDING CUTS ARE THE ONLY SOLUTION

Discussion of tax increases is understandable, but wrong. Tax increases will only redistribute taxpayers from Illinois to other states, as businesses realize that their tax dollars will not be able to solve the so-called "structural deficit." It is the decades-long history of Springfield that all new monies are spent before addressing deficits, debts, or even the "structural spending." Adam will dismantle the "structure" that creates that deficit, primarily through the use of transparency and audits, which will expose the areas that can be cut, as well as create popular support for those cuts.

Critics of spending cuts say that there is no place left to cut in the Illinois Budget. That is why they insist that tax increases are necessary. Adam disagrees. To be fair however, politicians should stand up and say exactly where they are going to cut. Our menu of cuts is listed below. However, there are a few things citizens need to understand about the Illinois budget. Before you read our menu of cuts, please read the "Facts to consider" below, along with the rest of this. We believe we have laid out why and we can cut, and where we will find the majority of the spending.

Facts to consider:

Over 63% of taxpayers money in FY2010 budget will be disbursed to various people and firms in the form of grants or for contracted services.
Excluding Healthcare, Education, Veteran, Unemployment and National Guard grants and contracts, there are nearly $10,000,000,000 (billion) in grants and contracts that can be closely examined in these difficult economic times as to their need.
The other $23,000,000,000 (billion) will also be subject to a forensic audit to see if there is any duplication of services, misapplication of funding or grantees and contractors producing negligible results.
The availability of these tax dollars paid by hard working Illinoisans to be distributed to any number of people or entities without firm management or audit controls demonstrate the potential for graft and corruption in Illinois
The recent Capital Bill was loaded with unnecessary projects (Member Initiatives and Peotone Airport Eminent Domain Takings). Our plan is to dramatically reduce the Capital Bill (From $30 down to $5 billion) and use the revenue sources from that bill to fund the General Operating Budget. This provides a double benefit. It cuts unnecessary capital projects, and allows us to avoid further tax increases. Adam would not have raised these taxes, but he can certainly work to re-allocate them away from pork projects that increase the need for more borrowing and taxing in the future.

ADAM'S MENU OF BUDGET CUTS

All unnecessary spending will be cut or consolidated (Forensic Audits - saving $3-5 billion or more)

An Andrzejewski Administration will review and audit every state grant. Any grant that can’t show definite metrics of success on its stated goal would be zeroed out. Adam is already on record for dramatically cutting the many perks the state pays for. Adam will sell the fleet of planes, zero out wasteful grants for patronage projects like the "Addison Creek Restoration Commission," end the $1.5 million "Security Contract" for the firm "guarding" the non-existent Peotone Airport, and empty out every "shoe box" (see description below) where the political class tucks away their goodies.

This policy successfully saved $1 billion in Kansas and $8 billion in Texas in the early 2000s. It is arguably the most aggressive and robust reform discussed in this race. If we show the citizens the spending, they will see where we can cut it.

Zero out the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity - DCEO(~$1 billion)
Reduce/Zero out Municipal Revenue Sharing (~$1-1.2 billion)

The state pays out about $1-1.2 billion to Municipalities through municipal revenue sharing agreements. This revenue represents and average of about 2% of the Municipalities' budgets. Adam favors a temporary reduction in the revenue sharing so that the money can be used to balance the budget. As the economy rebounds, we would begin restoring revenue sharing.

Pension reform mandating each agency provide for state portion of benefits in their Budgets

This policy forces agencies to place the allocation for their portion of the pension payment in their budget. This is part of a necessary process to take pension benefit expansions out of the hands of the Legislative process, and place the authority with the agency negotiating the contracts. Legislative expansion of benefits while simultaneously failing to make pension payments is an egregious example of "taxation without representation." No voter in Illinois voted to bankrupt the state with Pension Largess. Yet, that is exactly what the legislature has done over the last 10-15 years.

Another way to save taxpayers money is to ask state and municipal workers to pay in a little bit more, work a little longer, and take a less generous cost of living adjustment. You can read how this can as much as save $466 million/year here.
Abolish all grants to non-profits that aren't providing a necessary state service (Museums and Zoos)
Zero out Illinois Health Facility Planning Board
Phase out CMS procurement consolidation and replace with Reverse Auction bidding process.($500-700 million)
Temporarily suspend State payments to the City of Chicago until the extent of Chicago TIF funds are known. If Chicago has $500-850 million to "allocate" to the Mayor's pet projects and corporate contributors, why should State Taxpayers indirectly fund Chicago schools and worker pensions?
Sell/Zero out McPier (apply any proceeds to pension funds and/or debt reduction)

If Adam's estimates are correct, this all adds up to around $10 billion. Every voter needs to understand this fact. In the last decade or so, the Illinois budget had a spending explosion of around 48% with only about a 4% increase in population. At the very least, the citizens deserve 100% process and checkbook transparency for EVERY budget item before tax increases are even considered. Illinois did NOT have a Revenue Problem until the recent downturn. It has had a massive spending problem, and it is time for someone to run on putting government on a cash-restricted diet.

The Problems: Click here to view the State Budget.

1. In June of 2008, newspapers reported that the estimated deficit for the Illinois State Budget was between $1.5 and $2.5 billion. In February of 2009, Comptroller Dan Hynes estimated the budget shortfall is nearly $9 billion. Remarkably, this tsunami of red ink exists in a state that has a “balanced budget clause” in its Constitution.

2. Fixing the state budget will be a challenge because simply understanding the state budget is a challenge. The budget is an opaque, incoherent, incomprehensible, non-specific chronicle of how the state spends nearly $60 billion of your taxpayer funds. For the truly brave, click here to see the 490+ page budget. Below are a few examples of waste we’ve found. If you take the time, you might be able to find more.

a. Duplication of functions: The Illinois Violence Prevention Authority Spends $1,000,000 on bullying preventions (7-46). The Department of Public health spends $2,000,000 on Youth Violence Prevention (Safety Net) [7-59]. The Department of Human Services spends $1,000,000 on Youth Violence Prevention (Safety Net) (7-28). These programs are geared to the same end but three different agencies administer them.

b. No Transfer of Information: “The state’s fiscal and HR operations are currently dependent on more than 700 unique information systems, some which are over two decades old and many that are not integrated with one another.”

Virtually none of these systems have the necessary reporting capabilities. This means that basic vital statistics related to state business operations such as the amount and nature of outstanding liabilities, or which goods and services are being procured from which vendors, requires an often cost-prohibitive amount of staff time to research and compile information from literally hundreds of sources. The result is that the critical business information for making sound, everyday decisions is often incomplete or outdated. This severely limits the state’s ability to analyze business functions for operational improvement and to take corrective or diligent action. (Illinois State Budget FY 2009 3-5)

c. How many “shoeboxes” are in the Budget? The Office of the State Treasurer states that there are more than 600 state funds. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget says it manages a database of nearly 700 Funds. [Illinois State Budget FY 2009, 11-22; 11-65 respectively] Apparently the state doesn’t even know how many funds they manage.  Perhaps most amazingly, in October 2007, the Inspector General of Illinois was mandated to report on the numerous programs run by the state. His report found that the state “does not have a comprehensive, consistent inventory of programs.” When he sent out a questionnaire to state agencies to report on their programs, he had to define the word “program” because the state has no “codified” definition of the word “program.”

The report concluded “that the State of Illinois does not have a comprehensive, consistent inventory of state programs.” Follow the link to the entire report to read the details on how little budget accountability there is in Illinois.

d. Former Governor Blagojevich used his administrative authority to expand services under Family Care without lawmakers approval or securing funding. This action led to increase costs for the state that contributes to our current budget shortfall. In addition, the Appeals Court Ruling may end up leaving people uninsured once the program returns to its proper coverage. (Blagojevich can’t expand state-subsidized health care without lawmakers’ approval, appellate court rules. Chicago Tribune, September 27, 2008).

3. Once you realize that the 4 examples above are only a small portion of the problem, you start to truly understand the depths of the state’s budget problem. The Illinois Budget is more of a collection of shoe boxes with amounts of cash than an actual budget. This is not an accident, but an intentional practice. That is why citizens are told that there is no place to cut. With that in mind, let's look at where we can start the cutting process.

ADAM ANDRZEJEWSKI’S PLAN TO FIX THE ILLINOIS BUDGET:

The Andrzejewski Budget.

1. Every Dime. Online. In Real Time.: Every dime, online, in real time is both excellent policy and exactly what Illinois needs right now. This phrase is the basis of Adam's campaign for Governor.

Opponents have argued that Illinois has a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and a Freedom of Information Clause in the Constitution, making transparency a fact. This argument is about as meaningful as the “balanced budget clause” in our Constitution. At a recent public meeting of the new Illinois Reform Commission, five presenters, including Attorney General Madigan, provided details on just how difficult it is for a regular citizen to gain access to public information.

At the February 5th meeting, Roger Huebner, General Counsel of the Illinois Municipal League, argued that both the definition of “public information” and the long list of “exemptions” make the act difficult to interpret. All presenters argued that there is virtually no way to enforce the act without the resources to go to court.

If you are a government official in Illinois, you can almost view compliance with the FOIA as voluntary; if you've submitted a FOIA request to the state, you'll know what we mean. This environment enables corruption and government malfeasance in Illinois.

As Governor, Adam Andrzejewski will make as much information available as possible under his powers as the state's Chief Executive. He will also work with the General Assembly to make virtually all information connected to the expenditure of public funds 100% transparent. This will eliminate the pork that can be found in state spending such as that illuminated by Illinois Policy Institute's Pig Booklet 2005 and 2008.
2. Institute a Forensic Audit on Every Budget Item, Agency, and Grant.: Voters need to see every area of waste and/or duplication so that they can support the re-allocation of resources from waste and duplication to meeting the needs of Illinois citizens.

This is important because those who argue that there is no place left to cut ignore the fact that whole areas of the budget are not yet transparent enough to view all the spending. Virtually no one other the 3 or 5 "Men/Women in a room" (legislative leaders and the Governor's office) have access to the level of detail necessary to indentfy cuts. It is very reasonable to estimate that we can cut $3-5 billion from the budget if we can see every dime of spending. Audits saved Texas $8 billion in the early 2000s and Kansas $1 billion in 2004-5. Once this information is available, and visible to the entire citizenry, cuts will become much more identifiable.

Once visible, Adam will follow the principles outlined below when seeking necessary cuts.

Institute a moratorium on all new programs.

As Governor, Adam Andrzejewski will sign no new programs into law until and unless long term funding for that program is secured. While we cannot predict exactly what the budget situation will be in 2010 and 2011, we can be certain that, under current leadership, rules, and existing gimmicks, that Illinois will not have a completely balanced budget. It is for that reason that as Governor, Adam Andrzejewski will insist on a moratorium on any new program that isn’t funded by existing revenues.

While we think that the State of Illinois has enough programs, if the legislature wants to begin a new program, we will insist that there are funds available to do so. We will apply the same principles of transparency and rigorous analysis to make sure that such funding is real, and not illusory.

Illinois taxpayers should also know that our administration will demand clear definitions of success in every government program. If those measurements are not met, the program needs to be re-vamped, consolidated, or de-funded.

Eliminate redundancy to streamline government functions.

While former governor Blagojevich did cut the number of state employees, he didn’t eliminate redundancy of programs. When more than one department implements the same program or is to operate for a similar purpose, we waste money. This is money that can be used to educate our children, feed our hungry, and provide health care for the sick and elderly. Efficient, cost effective governance is not one employee’s or one department’s job; instead, efficiency and wasteless governance should be every state employee’s job. As Governor, Adam Andrzejewski will consolidate programs and departments to streamline the functions of government so that it may provide better service to the people and the money can go directly to intended beneficiaries.

An example of this is the SafteyNet program. The Department of Public Health and the Department of Human Services both operate the SafteyNet program with the intention of preventing youth violence. Both of these departments must have knowledgeable staff and oversight of this program and both deal with money for the program. As Governor, Andrzejewski would move the funds to the agency best situated to run the entire program and transfer the accompanying employees if need be.

Money should follow the person served not the perpetual bureaucracy.

Illinois’ budget problems stem from a practice of increasing spending and taxation prior to implementing rigorous demands for efficient and effective government.

Some may still remember former Secretary of State Paul Powell. Shortly after his death in 1970, $800,000 was found in cash packed into shoe boxes, briefcases and strong boxes in his hotel room. Mr. Powell was never convicted of any wrong doing. Interestingly, the people who designed the Illinois budget borrowed the shoe box concept, and created 600-700 “funds” (or shoe boxes) to be filled up with your tax dollars and doled out in budget summits that occur behind closed doors.

In our preparation for this campaign, we met with a well-respected government official who stated that when Republicans were in control of the budget, the government actually had money stashed away in various different funds. Unfortunately, he said, Ex-Governor Blagojevich “found” those funds and spent them. You may remember the reports that the budget was “balanced” with “fund sweeps,” among other gimmicks.

Ask yourself why there should be “shoe boxes” of cash stashed away in the nooks and crannies of the Illinois Budget. Illinois’ budget problems are caused by decades of bad practices of layering one bureaucracy over another.

The first step in ending this practice is putting every dime, online in real time. This will allow us to see the “shoeboxes.” Once a solid number of “shoeboxes” is determined we will audit extensively and use suggestions from all auditors to decrease bureaucratic redundancy and increase services, thus making your tax dollar go farther.

As Governor, Adam Andrzejewski will make sure citizens will see every dime, online, in real time, and put an end to “shoe box” budgeting. We will require every new program to be fully funded and measurable, in terms of success. Our approach to fixing the budget will be based upon putting as much money as possible under citizen control, where money follows people, not bureaucrats. Illinois has seen enough of never-ending tax increases to fund knee-jerk spending increases for every real and perceived ill.

Per person:

adamforillinois.com