Tagged: Illinois budget

Two Illinois prisons targeted for closure will stay open for at least another month. An arbitrator ruled today that Governor Pat Quinn and his administration violated the rights of union workers by rushing the process.

Illinois’ local governments face a reduction of nearly 15 percent in personal property replacement tax money distributed by the state.

The Department of Revenue said the amount of replacement tax money available in the current budget year will be $1.054 billion -- down $182 million from last year -- to be split by more than 6,500 local governments around the state.

That means local governments that receive those funds will get 14.7 percent less than in 2011.

The Illinois State Treasurer says lawmakers need to make some progress toward fixing the state’s budget woes, or he says the crisis will get worse. Republican Dan Rutherford was in DeKalb Tuesday to host a roundtable discussion about the state’s finances. He says he doesn’t expect much progress before the November election, although the state’s bond rating is suffering: