IDNR is looking for a Concessionaire for WSRC

The IGNN advertised in Sept for a Concessionaire for the WSRC and sent out an RFI to the public seeking same.

IGNN stands for Illinois Government News Network and RFI is request for information FYI for your information

Concessionaire for food services, Gaming, Rides, Major Mfgrs Etc.

Gary Bryant..............................Dr.longshot

 

Barry will be there with his corn dogs, but not sure he pays for a spot of just bootlegs them ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

Rides ... <perk> Are we going to have a midway with rides and clowns and elephants and lions and tigers... Will they have the bearded lady and reptile boy??

 

Sorry FlaLagarto, The circus won't leave Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

 

Now add some funnel cakes and corn hole games .

 

ILLINOIS STATE BUDGET CRISIS AT A GLANCE: REVENUE DOWN, SPENDING UP, NO ONE IN CONTROL AND NO END IN SIGHT

REBOOT ILLINOIS

REBOOT STAFF
FEB 15, 2016 5997

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WHY The Illinois Constitution requires that the governor and General Assembly pass a budget by May 31. If they fail to do so, a three-fifths majority vote of the General Assembly is required for passage. As budget talks began in spring 2015, the state forecast $32 billion in revenue for FY 2016. Maintaining state services at FY 2015 levels would require $38 billion. Rauner proposed a budget containing heavy cuts and no tax increases to end FY 2016 with surplus of $505 million. Democrats passed a budget that ended the year with a deficit the administration estimated at $4 billion. Rauner vetoed all but one of the 20 budget bills (he signed legislation to fund elementary and secondary education, ensuring that schools statewide would open on time), saying he wouldn’t discuss the budget until Democrats pass some of the business and political reforms contained in his Illinois Turnaround agenda. Democrats say those reforms are not related to the budget. The two sides are deadlocked.

A more detailed comparison of Rauner’s proposed budget and that of the Democrats is inthis report from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, page 10.

IN THEORY The Illinois Constitution says state government can’t spend money unless there is a balanced budget to authorize that spending. That means government should have all but shut down as of July 1, with most state employees not receiving paychecks as of that date. A non-functioning government would have placed heavy public pressure on Rauner and lawmakers to pass a budget.

IN PRACTICE Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger, backed by the administration and unions, sought and received a court order authorizing payment of state employees for the duration of the budget impasse. Court orders and other mechanisms have forced the state to continue roughly 90 percent of its FY 2015 spending. Thus the state is on pace to overspend by $4.6 billion by June 30. The state could end the year with more than $9 billion in unpaid bills.

For more details, see Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, Illinois Economic and Fiscal Policy Report, page 3. The final tally on spending in FY 2015 can be found in theIllinois State Comptroller’s Traditional Budgetary Financial Report, Fiscal Year 2015. Information in the graphic above can be found on pages 4, 6 and 10 of the comptroller’s report.

IN DANGER Illinois public colleges and universities have received no funding since July 1. Chicago State University has said it may not be able to operate through next month without state funding. Eastern Illinois University has taken austerity measures that included the layoffs of 200 non-faculty employees last week. Financial aid promised to 125,000 low-income college student can’t be delivered. Private agencies that provide human services to the disabled, sick and elderly are closing or reducing services because they no longer are being paid.



The GOOD NEWS just keeps on keeping on ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

DEMOCRATS LIKELY TO SEND BRUCE RAUNER AN UNWELCOME OPTION NO. 3 FOR 2017 ILLINOIS BUDGET

MATT DIETRICH

REBOOT STAFF
FEB 18, 2016 2311 9

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Fiscal Year 2017 Illinois budget plan without the state ever having enacted an operating budget for FY 2016.

If things proceed as Rauner would like, the state would enact a budget for FY 2017 and, in effect, allow the non-existent FY 2016 budget to become an asterisk in the history books. It’s a horrible prospect for public colleges and universities, which would go an entire year without any state funding and then receive a one-year appropriation that’s slightly lower than that of FY 2015.

But that assumes negotiations on the 2017 budget go any more smoothly than those of the current year. And that is a mighty shaky assumption.

In his Budget Address on Wednesday, Rauner offered the Democrats who control the General Assembly two choices: (1) Pass some of his Turnaround Agenda items (term limits, a property tax freeze, local control of collective bargaining, lawsuit reform, workers’ compensation reform that makes injured workers prove their injury was primarily caused on the job, legislative redistricting reform) and Rauner will work with Democrats to create new revenue to close a gap of $3.5 billion or (2) give him extraordinary budget authority to create and balance the budget on his own with cuts only.

The message was not a whole lot different than that of Rauner’s first Budget Address, delivered on Feb. 18, 2015, in which he introduced his Turnaround Agenda.

Nor was the reaction from House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton — the two Democratic leaders of the General Assembly — any different than last year.

Are we headed into a second consecutive year of a protracted budget impasse? That’s what we look at on this week’s “Only in Illinois.”


WPT ... (YAC) ... If they ignore the existence of the WSRC , everything looks bright and sunny ...

 

CIVIC FEDERATION OUTLINES PAINFUL RECOMMENDATIONS, INCLUDING FUTURE PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX, TO MEND ILLINOIS FINANCES

KEVIN HOFFMAN

REBOOT STAFF
FEB 11, 2016 2955 12

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State of Illinois FY2017 Budget Roadmap,” warns of the looming consequences of inaction — a $25.9 billion unpaid bill backlog by the end of fiscal year 2019 — unless “painful but necessary spending limits and revenue enhancements” are enacted.



And even though Illinois is expected to end the current fiscal year $6.2 billion deeper in debt, which will push the bill backlog to a grand total of $10.2 billion in unpaid bills by June 30, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall says not all hope is lost.

“Systemic payment delays and the ongoing budget impasse in Springfield have only exacerbated our state’s financial woes, and there are no more politically popular solutions left to explore,” Msall said in a press release. “Despite this dire situation, our roadmap shows that with dedicated action and shared sacrifice, it is possible to enact a comprehensive plan that will get Illinois back on sound financial footing by FY2019.”

From the report:

Only after the state eliminates its backlog of bills and begins to make progress toward building a rainy day fund should it explore reversing some of the tax policy changes that were necessary to end the crisis as part of a comprehensive look at the State’s tax system[…]

Savings from pension reforms are no longer possible due to the Illinois State Supreme Court’s ruling that the changes were unconstitutional. Only difficult choices remain for the state.

In advance of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Feb. 17 budget address, here are the report’srecommendations for the governor and lawmakers to consider during upcoming budget talks.

1. Limit spending and pay down bills

• Eliminate fiscal year-end backlog of unpaid bills by FY2019 by controlling spending and generating annual operating surpluses to pay down the bill backlog.

2. Create rainy day fund

• Work toward building a rainy day fund equal to 10.0 percent of General Funds revenues to cushion the budget from the next economic downtown. Legislation must explicitly indicate when deposits will be made and in what amount and the circumstances under which withdrawals will be allowed.

3. Increase income tax rates

• Retroactively increase the income tax rate to 5.0 percent for individuals and 7.0 percent for corporations as of Jan. 1, 2016, up from 3.75 percent and 5.25 percent, respectively, in order to address the fall in revenues resulting from the income tax rate rollback on Jan. 1, 2015.

4. Tax retirement income

• Eliminate the income tax exemption for non-Social Security retirement income from individuals with a taxable income of more than $50,000.

5. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to provide assistance to low-income residents

• Increase the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit from 10 percent of the federal credit to 15 percent of the federal amount.

6. Expand the sales tax base

• Temporarily suspend sales tax exemption for food and nonprescription drugs and enact a new general consumer services tax, excluding all business-to-business services as well as medical, financial and legal services.

7. Establish comprehensive teachers’ pension funding reform

• Consolidate the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund and Teachers’ Retirement System and have the state assume responsibility for CTPF’s unfunded liability.
• Chicago Public Schools should continue to pay for the normal cost of its teachers’ pensions, while the responsibility for the normal cost of teacher pensions outside of Chicago should be shifted from the state to local school districts over three years.

8. Approve a constitutional amendment limiting pension protection clause

• Draft and approve a proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution for the November 2016 statewide ballot specifying that the clause in the Illinois Constitution protecting public pension benefits applies only to accrued benefits.

9. Make supplemental pension payments

• The state should make supplemental pension payments until all five state retirement systems are 100 percent funded.

10. Cap retailers’ sales tax collection discount

• Cap the retailer’s discount at $200 per month for each retailer to recoup revenue that it cannot afford to give up in light of its financial condition.

The Civic Federation also recommends the following tax and budget reforms be considered over the next three years:

• Change the state’s flat tax rate to a graduated/progressive tax rate structure (requires a constitutional amendment). This has been a hotly contested issue for years. Democrats have championed the graduated-rate system as more fair to lower-income taxpayers (because those with higher incomes pay higher tax rates) and much more lucrative for the state. Republicans have dismissed it as a tax increase for everyone and an excuse for Democrats to get more money to mismanage.
• Reinstate the state’s sales tax rate (6.25 percent) to food and nonprescription drugs instead of the current 1 percent rate.
• Lower the state sales tax if the sales tax base is expanded to include general consumer services.
• Return the lapse period to two months. Lapse period spending is the period of time after the end of the fiscal year during which the next year’s revenues can be used to pay for the current fiscal year’s bills. The Civic Federation says it should be rolled back from Dec. 31 to Aug. 31.
• Phase out the use of Section 25 liabilities and other practices that allow prior years’ costs to be paid from the current year’s appropriations.

Sparta, here we come ... Glad that is all settled ... Can't wait till next year .... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

RAUNER AND MADIGAN STAND AT THE BRINK. THEY CAN BLOW US TO SMITHEREENS OR SAVE US.

MATT DIETRICH AND MADELEINE DOUBEK

REBOOT STAFF
MAY 31, 2015 4207 8

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Gov. Bruce Rauner emerged from his bunker and broke his silence of the past few weeks to say he was “cautiously optimistic” an agreement could be reached with the Democrats after a meeting with all four legislative leaders. And then, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan let it be known he wasn’t budging.

By the time lawmakers shut down the spring legislative session on Sunday, Michael Madigan had compared Rauner’s approach to that of Rod Blagojevich, Senate President John Cullerton said Rauner was holding the state budget hostage and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno said it all comes down to one issue: “The Democrats only want another tax increase.”

Rauner, meanwhile, vowed to not back down against “insiders” who “will not give up their power easily.”

“The insiders in Springfield, who make their money from the government, are at war with the people of the state,” Rauner said Sunday evening. “The taxpayers, the homeowners, the schoolchildren and their parents, small business owners. Those are the folks who are suffering in Illinois.”

We stand at the brink of an abyss the likes of which we have never seen in Illinois.

Rauner is ready to push the button on an all-out campaign to paint Madigan as an evil, uncompromising obstructionist who will raise our taxes to infinity and never look back. Unlike any other, this governor has the resources to sledgehammer that message home to Illinoisans hard. Republicans know from previous polling that that line of attack can work.

Madigan, who on Sunday afternoon said the House would be in “continuous session” from here on in, appears ready to take his chances to preserve and protect his power and his super majority. After all, he and his members don’t trust Rauner. Madigan has angry union leaders and plenty of foot soldiers on his side who have been revving up the notion that Rauner wants to steal meals from the mouths of homeless people. Earlier Friday, Democrats were passing out buttons to needy Illinoisans who benefit from government social programs that asked, “Am I essential?”

How about this notion: We all are essential in Illinois. This moment in Illinois history is not and should not be about Rauner or Madigan. This moment is about us. And yes, it’s about our very real and urgent need to fix Illinois.

Let’s all take a deep breath before we step into that abyss.

We do not believe that Madigan is Evil Incarnate. We do not believe Rauner rides on a cloud, playing a harp and wearing a halo.

The world is not black or white in Illinois or anywhere else.

But these are facts: Illinois has $111 billion in pension debts that must be fixed. We owe social workers, doctors, home health care workers and untold others, several more billion. Long-time residents are abandoning Illinois because job creation and opportunity lags. Property and other taxes, combined, just keep rising and rising and rising. Our biggest city,Chicago, grew by only 82 residents in the most recent data released.

Chicago taxpayers were saddled with $70 million in extra debt because the city’s credit rating was labeled “junk.” Illinois’ credit rating is the nation’s worst and — given the budget and philosophical gridlock on such vivid display Sunday — soon also could be labeled“junk.” The debts, the credit noose, the tax burden, the job climate instability has us reeling.

These also are facts: Bruce Rauner’s budget proposal for the year that starts July 1 was not balanced because it counted on $2 billion in pension savings that cannot happen yet. The Democrats’ budget plan is not balanced by far more than $3 billion. Rauner originally wanted right-to-work zones, a property tax freeze, term limits and gerrymandering amendments, workers compensation and lawsuit changes.

He scaled back his Illinois Turnaround and recently filed legislation without the anti-union measures.

More facts: Madigan has been Speaker for 30 years. Cullerton has been there for 36 years and has been Senate President for nearly six years while Illinois’ debt literally rocketed skyward. Rauner has been governor for five months.

Madigan says Rauner is wrongly mixing non-budget demands into budget negotiations because Rauner says he must have reform before he will agree to signing off on another tax increase.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve tried it your way for many, many years. To keep at it is insanity. We must try a different way. The governor is right to demand cuts and changes before cash.

You’ve mixed budget and non-budget items in end-of-year negotiations many times over the years. Don’t kid us kidders.

Rauner is looking for changes to workers comp and some relief for property owners. The issue of “causation” Rauner seeks does not diminish benefits to injured workers. It’s a measure to ensure that those claiming workplace injuries actually suffered those injuries in the workplace. It’s not too much to expect. It’s a start at fixing some of our problems.

The solution is clear. As we wrote a few weeks ago, budget experts on the left, right and middle all agree: Illinois needs to make difficult, painful spending cuts and difficult, painful tax increases. On this, the Speaker and governor already seem to agree.

The experts have said we must cut spending as deeply as we can. Do it across the board and tell your agency superstars, Governor, to find a way to make it work. Don’t tell us there’s no waste. Lengthen the pension repayment schedule and set in stone the annual payments that must be made. Then, tax services some, tax retirement income above a middle-income level to protect average retirees and find a way to patch our broken roads and bridges.

Give us a stable road to a new future with new jobs and rising salaries. Step back from the brink. Go ahead, blink now. We’re willing to bet you both will burnish your images and legacies if you get it done together.

We need more productive Illinoisans paying taxes and building families. Don’t try to rhetorically blow each other up and take all of us with you. We can’t withstand another crisis upon the crises.

Please. Step back from the abyss and toward building a bridge to a better, brighter Illinois.



Interesting reading ... WPT ... (YAC) ....

 

ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS PUSH DEFICIT BUDGET; REPUBLICANS CALL IT “INSANITY”

MARK FITTON

GUEST VIEW
MAY 27, 2015 1856 3

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Michael Madigan to Rauner: Here’s our budget; let’s find $3 billion[/paste:font]
“You’re insane and history will not look upon you kindly,” he told Democrats.

The opening round was over Rep. Greg Harris’ House Bill 4165, which contains funding for much of the state’s human services, including Medicaid.

Harris, D-Chicago, said the bill cuts about $134 million and holds state Medicaid expenditures at current levels.

“This budget understands we need to make cuts,” but it also includes restorations of items that Gov. Bruce Rauner, R-Winnetka, proposed in his budget, Harris said.

Democrats, he added, understand more revenue needs to be found and stand willing to work on that.

Rep. Ron Sandack, R-Downers Grove, criticized Democrats, saying they were acting unilaterally and irresponsibly, much as they’d done in the past.

“In the last General Assembly … the folks in charge knew we were going to pass a budget that didn’t balance and give it to Gov. Quinn — if he wins — and then we’d raise revenue.

“Here’s the only problem: Gov. Quinn didn’t win and the people of Illinois spoke otherwise,” Sandack said. “They don’t want just spend, tax, borrow, spend, tax, repeat. That’s what has gotten us where were are — and that’s in a world of hurt.”

Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, chided Republicans for hypocrisy, saying the governor’s budget proposal was really never balanced, either.

Starting with $2.2 billion in pension savings he said were never achievable, Bradley ticked down a long list of items he said Rauner never could count on, including $700 million in health insurance savings that remain to be bargained.

“The stuff that was sent to us was never even balanced from Day 1,” Bradley said, “It was built upon taking out the middle class; it was built upon hurting working men and women; it was built upon assumptions that didn’t exist in law.”

Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, didn’t care for that characterization.

“What you’re saying to the middle class that you really don’t care about — you say you do, but you really don’t — is we’re going to ding you another big tax increase, and you’re going to like it,” Kay said.

Harris’ measure, the first budget bill taken up in the House, passed on a vote of 64 to 51.

No Republicans voted for the measure and four Democratic representatives also voted against it: Scott Drury of Highwood, Jack Franks of Marengo, Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook and Sam Yingling of Round Lake Beach.

House Democrats, who hold a 71-47 majority, then passed another eight budget measures with the GOP in opposition.

The Rauner agenda

Referencing remarks from a few suburban Democratic state senators, the Rauner administration cited “bipartisan opposition to Speaker (Michael) Madigan’s plan to double down on a broken system and avoid critical reforms needed to turnaround Illinois.

“Now is the time for all members of the General Assembly to make clear whether they stand with taxpayers and for reform or will continue to be controlled by Speaker Madigan,” wrote Lance Trover, the governor’s communications director.

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said two pieces of Rauner’s agenda — lawsuit reform and workers compensation reform — are scheduled for hearings before the Senate Judiciary committee Wednesday morning.

Another Rauner agenda item — a call for a statewide property tax freeze — is set for an executive committee hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Radogno said Senate Democrats have bottled up the constitutional amendments that could allow term limits and legislative redistricting reform on the 2016 general election ballot.

She said she’s written Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, calling for those amendments to be assigned to committee.


Now, I remember what I miss about living in Illinois "NOTHING" ... WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

PUTTING ILLINOIS PROPERTY TAX IN PERSPECTIVE: 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER

MATT DIETRICH

REBOOT STAFF
MAY 19, 2015 9412 5

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Illinois property tax freeze.

On May 17, Democrats in the Illinois House approved a property tax freeze bill that Republicans protested as a stunt.

And the conservative Americans For Prosperity-Illinois has made tamping down property taxes a major cause this spring.

We’re hearing a lot about property taxes in Illinois this year because of two conflicting dynamics. Rauner wants to lower the amount of state income tax that goes to cities and smaller government units. For some of those entities, property taxes are the only protection against dwindling state funds.

To put some perspective on the importance of property taxes in Illinois — some would call it over-reliance — Center for Tax and Budget Accountability Research Director Amanda Kass put together a document that hits the high points. (See the whole report here.)

Here are five things that every Illinois taxpayer — regardless of whether you own property — should know about property taxes here.

5. Residential property provides the vast majority of property tax revenue:





4. Nearly 60 percent of the state’s property tax intake is used locally to fund elementary and high schools. This is a problem for school districts in poor areas with low property values and small property tax bases.







3. The suburban collar counties spend the greatest proportion of their property tax collections on schools. Again, this tends to benefit school districts in these mostly high-income, high-property-value locations.



2. No other state comes close to Illinois for the amount of local property tax revenue used to fund schools.



1. Property taxes account for more than 25 percent more total revenue in Illinois than sales and income taxes combined. Figures here show total 2013 tax collections in millions.



Again, the full report contains more explanation and background. As lawmakers, Rauner and local government officials debate possible changes to property tax practices, this will give you some much-needed context. The whole report can be viewed at ctbaonline.org.



Property taxes ..? WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

These people talking all this nonsense about budgets and taxes, being broke, 12.6 Billion in the rears, 7 Billion current obligations due , what about the important stuff, like the WSRC and getting it back open and ready for use ... Time is wasting and these people do not even include it in their conversations, whats kind of crap is this ..? WPT ... (YAC) ...

 

With all of the problems that Illinois has I do not see where the WRSC will have any standing in a new budget. Unless there is a specific line item that funds the WRSC then it's chance of reopening is low at best given that the needs of the other state parks that serve a larger portion of people will be funded first leaving nothing left.

 

You do know the hiring of a Concessionaire and their contract will indicate how business looks at the viability of the WRSC's future. Agree/Disagree.