A new fiscal year with no state budget presents a nightmare without end. Illinois is exhausting its fiscal authority, both to ?fund its own programs and to provide grants to private, non-profit agencies.
Obviously, something must be done. But what? Well, we know two things that cannot be done. First, we can't continue to point fingers of blame. We must find genuine solutions. ? The problems will not go away; they will only get worse. In fact, they are getting worse daily.
The other thing we can't do is to solve our problem by simply cutting public employee pensions. Two attempts were made; both were repudiated by the courts. The legislature tried and was rebuked by the state Supreme Court. The ?more recent attempt by the city of Chicago to offer this gambit was rejected by another court. Look at Article XIII, section 5, of the Illinois Constitution. It designates public pensions as contracts, whose "benefits shall not be diminished or impaired."
So, we know what cannot be done. What can we do? The answer is disturbing and painful.
We must raise taxes and cut expenditures as carefully and humanely as possible. We must perform fiscal root canal, nay triage.
We must begin now for the sake of our fellow citizens now. Illinois must provide the services that governments must provide.
We must also begin now for the sake of our future. Economic stability and growth will never come to a state and to a people that simply cannot manage basic finances.
I'm Bob Evans, and that's my perspective.
