Aug. 28--Attorneys representing Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration and the state comptroller told a federal judge Friday that it is "impossible" to comply with a court-ordered timeline for making payments to providers who care for the disabled because of a cash flow problem caused by the budget stalemate in Springfield.
The state's checking account is at least $300 million short each month of the money needed to keep up with required payments, officials said in a filing to U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
State government has been operating without full spending authority since the new budget year began July 1. But a variety of laws and court orders have forced the state to continue writing checks for everything from payroll to pension and debt payments, school funding and health care for the poor. The situation has left the comptroller's office juggling bills that are accumulating at the rate of last year's spending even though the state is set to take in billions less this budget year after a temporary income tax increase expired in January.
Among those bills are payments for community living and care facilities for the disabled. Coleman ordered the state to pay those bills by Aug. 21 and Sept. 4, but Comptroller Leslie Munger missed the first deadline, saying there wasn't enough money on hand to make the payments on time.
Advocates for the disabled hauled the state into court earlier this week, and Coleman demanded an explanation for why the payments were delayed.
"The payments in this case do not exist in a vacuum," the state said in its written response filed Friday. "They compete against the state's other obligations, many of which are also covered by court orders."
On Aug. 21, for example, there was $171 million available in the state's checking account, and Munger released $50 million in payroll checks for state workers, according to court records. The following business day, as new revenues came in, Munger wrote checks totaling more than $230 million for state university employee pensions and debt payments, and $23 million for payroll.
It wasn't until Tuesday that Munger released a $71 million payment for disabled care covered under Coleman's order. Another payment is due Sept. 4, but officials said the Rauner administration is still processing those payments and won't be finished until mid-September. They asked the judge to modify her order "to clarify that compliance does not mean doing the impossible."
"Because of the state's cash flow problems, the comptroller must evaluate on a daily basis the amount of cash on hand and determine which payments may be made," the state said in its filing to the court. "While the state will continue to diligently process payments to providers ... it is not possible for the state to commit to making each of many specific payments on specific days."
kgeiger@tribpub.com
