Expressing concerns over pork-barrel spending under Gov. George Ryan’s administration, Senate Republicans on Tuesday began stripping $1.3 billion worth of construction projects from the governor’s state budget plan, preferring a scaled-back public-works proposal that reflects the legislature’s priorities, not Ryan’s.
The move by Senate Republicans to trim capital spending represents the apprehension of some lawmakers who said that if the capital budget were left intact, Ryan would have bonded more projects in his first three years as governor than his predecessor did in eight years as chief executive.
The spending concerns are compounded by a fear of a souring economy’s impact on state tax revenues. Already, about $85 million in new state revenues will have to be earmarked for bond repayment in next year’s state budget.
Senate Republicans suggested one alternative to Ryan’s plan was to stretch $1.3 billion in capital spending over the next two budget years as part of negotiating which projects to include and which to discard.
“There’s some concerns about the size and the scope of the capital budget and how we can realistically implement it,” said Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin), who chairs the Republican-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee, which stripped out Ryan’s construction program.
Some Senate Republicans privately contended that Ryan’s building plans for the budget year that begins July 1 had misplaced priorities. The Senate panel’s action included the removal of a $250 million two-year construction package that Ryan proposed for community colleges in his February budget address, as well as $50 million for a new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
“Everything that was on that list is something that someone is now expecting to happen,” said Stephen Schnorf, Ryan’s budget director. “If they want to take those kinds of hopes and dreams away from people so that they can fund their own projects, I guess that’s a good policy debate for them and the administration to engage in.”
The Senate panel’s action came as an economic report released by the legislature’s fiscal forecasting arm said sales tax collections have tailed off and revenues have fallen below projections, further complicating budget negotiations.
The Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission estimated that the fiscal assumptions by Ryan’s administration are $185 million too high.
But the governor disagreed, saying, “We still feel that our projections are on target and we’re comfortable with that.”
