Golf, boats, bathrooms, TVs: State spending goes on

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Despite major budget cuts, some state spending escaped a funding freeze. Now, the ABC7 I-Team has uncovered surprising ways state officials are using your money.

Illinois is billions of dollars in the red, and earlier this year, Gov. Bruce Rauner promised to freeze spending that state "taxpayers cannot afford." But the I-Team has learned it's not such a deep freeze in some places statewide, while programs and social services agencies statewide are facing serious cuts.

An hour southeast of Springfield, it's a beautiful day to play 18 holes here at Eagle Creek, a golf course owned by the state of Illinois.

Your tax dollars pay a management company every month to run the course $152,000 last year, and so far this year - even though golf season has barely begun - a total of $90,000.

"Golfing is a privilege sport. That's really troubling. There needs to be a reality check," said Susan Garrett, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR).

A Department of Natural Resources spokesman says without paying the management company, "the golf course would degrade, and the department would risk losing a valuable asset."

The biggest taxpayer price tag the I-Team uncovered was $617,000 for five brand new Illinois Conservation Police boats, one of them billed as "unsinkable". State officials say the new fleet is needed to patrol the state's waterways for accidents.

The Secretary of State's office is also on a taxpayer-funded spending spree. In March, it bought 70 TVs - big screens, measuring at least 60-inches - for messages and videos in facilities statewide.

"If it makes the office run more efficiently and better serve the public, it seems like a good thing," said David Druker, Illinois Secretary of State spokesperson.

The Secretary of State's office says the money was from a fund they won in securities cases and doesn't consider it "taxpayer money".

But the governor certainly did. His recent budget balancing efforts have raided the rest of the multimillion dollar fund balance to pay for other essential state services.

Taxpayers are on the hook for bathroom renovations at the main DMV in Springfield, where the first and second floors washrooms were spruced up. The taxpayer tab there was more than $220,000.

"That building was built back in the mid-70s and this is the first major renovation that's been done on these washrooms, they have flooding situations there," Druker said. "We think that this is a good use of public money, and it's really a health issue."

The I-Team also uncovered a spending voucher from Gov. Pat Quinn's final Friday in office for renovating the administrative offices of this Chicago social service provider Illinois Action for Children. Taxpayers are on the hook for a total of $1 million there for replacing carpeting and even buying three new vans.

Just two weeks after receiving the first $250,000 of their grant, the group's president was protesting cuts in childcare funding.

"We can never balance a budget on the backs of young children!" said Maria Whelan, Illinois Action for Children.

Illinois Action for Children officials denied multiple requests for interviews for this report, and in a statement write that they "expended significant, unforeseen funds" last year to upgrade their systems to comply with a new state mandate and their grant can only be used for capital structural upgrades.

"My guess is that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing," Garrett said. "The state should only be spending money on essential things, and somebody has to define what that means."

And for now, the state has defined downstate Eagle Creek as essential, even though the company that manages this Illinois-owned golf course, is from Indiana.

The governor's office says that Illinois Action for Children grant and all other grants made for capital improvements will proceed as planned. The company that sold Illinois those new boats says buying new boats isn't a frivolous use of taxpayer money and the fleet should last more than 20 years.