Comptroller Leslie Munger says Illinois' unpaid bills backlog could potentially jump past $8 billion by next year without a state budget.
Munger reiterated the consequences of having no spending plan to legislators and Gov. Bruce Rauner Wednesday. Both sides remain at impasse for the fiscal year that started back on July 1.
Most of the state's money is being spent through court orders. Munger says her office is continuing to prioritize payments to non-profit and social service organizations that serve the most vulnerable residents.
"Actually they provide a great service to us because they provide better care at a lower cost than our state agencies can. In fact, for every one person our state agency takes care of, these organizations serve five, at the same cost."
She says the backlog is growing without a new spending plan because court orders, consent decrees and continuing appropriations are funding 90 percent of the state's bills. Munger says the backlog would be closer to 12 billion dollars if you add in the 10-percent of the bills not being funded right now.
"Those are things that account for payments to higher education, MAP grants, lottery winners, employee-retiree health insurance, other commercial spending and other bills that are not being covered by any of these consent decrees and are currently not even being considered for payment at all because we don't have a budget in place."
Two lottery winners have filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois Lottery, which stopped paying out large prizes because there's no state budget.
The lawsuit filed by Rhonda Rasche and Danny Chasteen seeks class action status. Rasche is awaiting a $50,000 payout. Chasteen won $250,000.
Last month the state comptroller's office said that without a budget for the July 1 fiscal year, there wasn't authority to write checks over $25,000 and payments would be delayed.
The lawsuit says the lottery still pays wages and seeks a court order to stop ticket sales until Illinois pays. It alleges dozens await more than $288 million in prizes.
