A spokesman for the Illinois Secretary of State’s office Thursday allayed fears that any Fox Valley driver’s license facilities will be closing.
But Dave Drucker, Secretary of State press officer, said with the state budget still up in the air, no one knows how long the current situation can go on.
“The landlords haven’t been paid since before July 1,” he said of facilities around the area. “That potentially down the road could be a problem. They (the landlords) have been very good to deal with, they’ve been very good to the state. At this point, there aren’t plans to close anything right now.”
The question came up when it became known to some local officials in both Aurora, where there is a facility, and Kendall County, which has a facility in Plano, that landlords were not being paid. In addition, utilities have not been paid on the buildings since the end of June. There also are driver’s license facilities in Naperville and Elgin.
Drucker said the facilities remain open “because of the people who own the buildings.”
“I applaud them,” he said. “I wish something could be done.”
The Secretary of State’s office does not have money to pay the rent or utilities because the money has not been appropriated by the Legislature. The General Assembly and the Governor’s Office remain at odds over the 2016 fiscal year budget, which has produced a stalemate resulting in no budget for three months. The situation has caused funding trouble for a number of local governments and social service organizations statewide.
When asked how long the stalemate can go on without closing local license facilities, Drucker said, “I don’t know.”
