Illinois' budget crisis is expected to worsen after lawmakers failed to enact pension reform last week, and residents will feel the impact across Illinois.
The state's annual pension fund payment is expected to increase by about $1 billion, to nearly $7 billion, in the next fiscal year. That's more than 16 percent of the state's general funds budget, up from 6 percent in 2008.
As the state pays more for pensions, there's less money for schools, police and Medicaid.
State Treasure Dan Rutherford says that we should have dealt with pension reform when we increased income taxes in 2011.
"What I've learned is, you don't put one thing on the table and agree to it, like they did with the income tax increase, and hope the rest of it comes along," Rutherford said. "What you need to do is put everything on the table, even things that aren't popular, put them on the table, negotiate a complete package, and then when it's finalized to the best of one's ability, put it out there."
"What I've learned is, you don't put one thing on the table and agree to it, like they did with the income tax increase, and hope the rest of it comes along," Rutherford said. "What you need to do is put everything on the table, even things that aren't popular, put them on the table, negotiate a complete package, and then when it's finalized to the best of one's ability, put it out there."
Illinois has a $96 billion pension crisis, the nation's worst.
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