The state’s mounting backlog of bills has reached $4.5 billion, and suppliers soon may cut off services if they aren’t paid, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes said Friday.
Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias expects to receive proposed changes in the bond offering’s legal language from Attorney General Lisa Madigan later Monday, said Sara Wojcicki, a spokeswoman for the treasurer’s office.
On Thursday, the date originally scheduled for the bond sale, Ms. Madigan’s office said the attorney general was reviewing a clause in the note agreement that addresses legal controversies concerning Mr. Blagojevich and his ability to hold office. The sale could not proceed without Ms. Madigan’s approval.
Ms. Wojcicki said Monday that providers of state services, especially health-care facilities such as nursing homes and institutions that care for the disabled, have been continually calling the treasurer’s office since Friday to express concern that the bond sale might not go through. The state hasn’t paid many of the facilities since May or June, and they fear that if they don’t get paid by the end of the year, they will have to close in January, she said.
Until he is out of office, everything is more complicated and the state faced a financial crisis before this.
Down goes the bond rating! Down goes the bond rating!
…And folks thought the pension crisis was bad before.