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On State Tour, Rauner Calls The Stopgap Funding An Important Step

Carl Nelson/WNIJ

  Last week's budget compromise between the governor and Illinois General Assembly "is a very important step in the right direction." 

That's according to Gov. Bruce Rauner who stopped in Moline Tuesday to shake hands with local residents and talk about the stopgap.  He says the state will spend much less than Democrats wanted, and "That's a big deal." And the compromise doesn't just bail out Chicago schools.

"I work for the kids there, but I work for the kids in the Quad Cities, too," he said. "I wanted all schools to get a little bit more money, a little more affordable money.  That's what we did.  We got all schools more money at an affordable basis.  That's a big deal."

As for revenue, Rauner says a tax increase is possible.

"Speaker Madigan said last December he wants the income tax to go back up to five percent.  I'm not sure that's the right level, but I'll say I'm open to some ideas and I'll work with him on a bipartisan basis, but we need reforms to grow our economy," he said.  

The governor says Democratic leaders -- or, as he now calls them, "the super majority" -- also agreed to consider pension reform later this year.

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.