No paychecks for state workers if budget isn't passed by July, comptroller says

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WLS) -- The consequences could be severe if Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders don't reach a budget compromise soon.

Comptroller Leslie Munger said Wednesday that state workers will start missing paychecks in mid-July if a deal isn't done by the end of June.

"Nearly all payments coming from my office will stop on July 1," Munger said.

The Republican comptroller says if there's no budget deal by July 1, her office will pay retiree benefits, aid to needy families, the elderly, blind and disabled and sales tax payments to local governments.

But Munger says she will not write checks to non-profit social services organizations or small business with state contracts. Nor will she pay Medicaid or new bills submitted by vendors.

And the comptroller says she will not pay state employees their salaries on July 15.

"We will be asking them to come to work with no idea of when we will be able to pay them," Munger said.

Illinois' projected deficit is over $6 billion. Rauner and the General Assembly cannot agree on new revenue or spending reductions to close the gap.

Outside the Thompson Center, home care providers chanted that cuts would risk the lives of their elderly and disabled clients.

"What would you do if you had to walk a mile in our shoes?" said Yvette Anderson, a home care worker.

But the governor will not agree to revenue, or raising taxes, until the democratic-controlled House and Senate agree to anti-union, pro-business reforms.

Munger, who was appointed by Rauner five months ago, let her fellow Republican off the hook for having any role in the impasse.

"The governor has been in office for five months. The problems we face today are the result of many years of spending more money than we have brought in," Munger said.

Meanwhile, a fiscal "perfect storm" is gathering as unionized state workers, whose contract expires on June 30, demonstrated at locations around the state. A strike or a lockout remains a possibility.

"It's not fair for the public service workers to have to bear the brunt of all of the missteps that were taken by the decision-makers," said Safiya Felters, AFSCME 31.

Right now, the union and Rauner administration reportedly are far apart in their negotiations. Among the state employees in the affected union are prison guards and Department of Motor Vehicle workers.