Reuters: U.S.: Illinois ends fiscal year 2013 with $6.1 billion bill backlog: comptroller

Changes are afoot at Blogtrottr! By popular request, we're bringing in paid plans with some cool new features (and more on the way). You can read all about it in our blog post.

Reuters: U.S. Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Illinois ends fiscal year 2013 with $6.1 billion bill backlog: comptroller Jul 1st 2013, 17:49 CHICAGO | Mon Jul 1, 2013 1:49pm EDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois ended fiscal 2013 with an estimated $6.1 billion in unpaid bills and other obligations, and that could swell to $7.5 billion by August and nearly $9 billion in November and December, State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka said in a report on Monday. The year-end total was down from $7.5 billion at the end of fiscal 2012, which Topinka said was largely due to a one-time increase in income tax collections in April. "Make no mistake, the 'April surprise' is history," Topinka said in a statement, referring to the fact that many taxpayers accelerated their income and capital gains at the end of 2012 to avoid expected federal income tax increases. Illinois stands alone among U.S. states in its broad-based use of delayed payments on bills and funding for school districts, universities and others as a budget-balancing tool to deal with ballooning public pension payments. "We continue to force businesses, hospitals, schools and service agencies to wait months on end for promised payment from the state," she said. "It is unconscionable and further highlights the importance of keeping spending flat and restoring our fiscal integrity." A structural budget imbalance and huge unpaid pension liability have shoved Illinois' bond ratings down the credit scale to the lowest levels among states. Lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Legislature have failed to find a fix for the nearly $100 billion owed to the state's five retirement systems. A legislative conference committee has been appointed to come up with a solution ahead of a July 9 deadline. Topinka, a Republican, said her office had 73,184 bills dating back to June 3, 2013 and totaling $3.3 billion on June 30. The one-month delay with some bills compared to two and a half month delays a year ago, according to Topinka's office. She said estimates of fiscal 2013 bills still held at state agencies had increased the backlog to $6.1 billion. (Reporting By Karen Pierog; Editing by David Greising) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions