CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- Local experts say state universities, including ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý Illinois University, are likely to see another round of cuts as lawmakers try to balance the budget.
This comes after voters in Illinois rejected Governor JB Pritzker's ballot measure for a graduated-rate income tax.
The Governor responded to the outcome after Election Day in a press conference saying, "There will be cuts, and they will be painful."
John Jackson, who is with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and a visiting professor at SIU, says Pritzker's statement was not a veiled threat and the state's deficit problem is a "very real."
"Right now there is no other option it appears--except, start cutting State spending rates," explains Jackson.
He says the ballot measure was the "only plan in town" to address both short-term and long-term budget problems. With it unapproved, state universities, agencies and nonprofits are at risk.
"The Universities are the easiest place they can get what's called, discretionary spending cuts," says Jackson, adding that SIU went through this before during the 2015-2016 budget crisis.
Jackson points out that SIU has little left to cut, yet is is the cross hairs once again.
"It's ironic," he says. "Given that SIU is the biggest employer in the area and it's about to take, probably another significant budget hit--as are all of the State universities, it appears."
Jackson believes other state agencies are likely to see cuts as well, such as Prisons and Community Colleges.
"Personnel is always the biggest item in any state budget and personnel are where you have to go to get the money," he explains, adding that Illinois will have a difficult challenge finding room for further cuts. He says it is going to take the Governor and the Legislature to come up with a solution together.
"But what they come up with certainly is unclear and remains to be seen at this point," Jackson comments about the upcoming future.
The campaign over the ballot measure failed to address the State's lingering debt adequately, says Jackson, as the fiscal shortfalls threatens to further reduce its bonds to "junk status" and lowering its credit rating.
"It's kind of a dismal picture that I've painted," he quips. "But unfortunately, people haven't really faced up to this very serious, looming problem, and the budget does come home--ultimately, to where we live."
