By IL Public Radio
Springfield, IL – Illinois government was spending beyond its means for much of former Governor Rod Blagojevich's tenure.
But that was obscured by an accounting trick.
Instead of giving bills to the comptroller so the state could pay them, agencies held on to the invoices. Republican Representative Dwight Kay of Glen Carbon says that made it impossible to know how deep of a hole Illinois was in.
Kay has introduced a plan to require agencies submit payment vouchers within 25 days after receiving a vendor's invoice. He says it's a matter of transparency and a good accounting practice.
"It really says, we're not going to be caught off guard again by a Governor or a department or somebody who doesn't process bills for the sake of not letting the public and the General Assembly know what's on hand in the aggregate to be paid."
The treasurer, comptroller and governor's offices have been in discussions with Kay about the proposal.
The comptroller's office says it is currently sitting on 4-point-4 billion dollars of vouchers it cannot afford to pay.
But ... as evidence of Kay's point ... that number is estimated to be twice as much when bills that have not yet made it to the comptroller are included.
